


Pins and Needles

by shadowfyre



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Developing Friendships, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Tags May Change, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:28:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 42,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28976664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowfyre/pseuds/shadowfyre
Summary: Narukami Sara and her older brother Yū are sent off to the country town of Inaba for the year after their parents left for work overseas.Follow Sara as she adjusts to life in what was supposed to be a quiet country town, makes new friendships and finds herself wrapped up in murder-mystery case.Note: Slow-start, but will pick up after a few chapters. Based on Persona 4, and some Persona 4: The Animation elements, to speed things a long. This work is an OC based work, but Reader tag has been added for wider audience reach.General Update Schedule: Monday & Thursday (AEDT)
Relationships: Narukami Yu & Original Female Character(s), Persona 4 Protagonist & Original Character (OC), Persona 4 Protagonist & Original Female Character (OFC), Tatsumi Kanji/Original Character, Tatsumi Kanji/Original Female Character, Tatsumi Kanji/Reader
Comments: 30
Kudos: 20





	1. Carted off to the Country

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all enjoy :)
> 
> First chapter is a little slow, purely because the story and gameplay starts slow. But it should hopefully start picking up soon.

#### April 11, 2011

The white sound of the train rattled through Sara's ears as she opened a bleary blue-grey eye to the bright train carriage and the country side rushing past in the window. With both eyes now open and adjusting to the change in lighting, Sara looked to her right to see her older brother, Yū, fast asleep in his seat. He seemed to be deep in REM sleep, with his eyes flickering back and forth every few seconds. 

Averting her eyes from her slumbering brother, Sara glanced down at her watch to check the time - 15 minutes to go till they arrived in Inaba and had to adjust to life out in the country. It almost felt surreal, her whole life uprooted and now smattered with unbridled uncertainty and anxiety. Watching the countryside pass by, Sara couldn't help but feel small and scared. A whole new town, with new people, a new school, new schedule - it was entirely nerve-wracking. 

The calming green turned to black as the train entered a tunnel.

*Gasp* 

Sara's neck suffered from whiplash with how fast she turned her head to look at her brother who had jolted from his seat. His eyes were now wide open and awake. She wondered if he had perhaps he had a bad dream?

"10 minutes to Inaba" the train conductor announced through the screechy speaker system.

Or maybe we're just about to enter a bad dream, she thought wryly. Sara was broken out of her thoughts by her older brother beginning to check his belongings during the last few minutes of their train ride to hell. Making sure they hadn't lost anything, their last moments of peace were spent in silence. A moment that spanned eternity, only disturbed by the intermittent 'whooshing' of the train travelling at breakneck speeds through the Japanese countryside. 

"Inaba. Inaba" came the announcement through the speaker system. The train began to slow as it pulled into the station. 

Blurs in the window became clear images of a small, rustic looking station framed by distant rolling hills of green and small town infrastructure. 

Their bags collected, Yū and Sara walked out of the stale cabin and onto the train platform, greeted by a brush of fresh, sweet country air. Connected to the platform was the main station building which divided the train platform from the town of Inaba. 

Tickets were swiftly collected and reluctant feet trod emptily out of the quaint station.

Their bags were sat at their feet as Yū looked around for their supposed caretaker for the year. The older Narukami stoically towered a whole foot over the younger. Sara in her nervousness ran her fingers through her side fringe before moving onto her long silver locks, combing through the small knots that had found their way into the wavy ends just above her waist. Anxiety was high as she tried to calm herself by fixing her hair to ensure that she made a good first impression.

"Hey! Over here?" a man's voice called out. 

The two silver-ettes turned to see a tall man with short black-grey hair and familiar grey eyes. His red necktie stood out to Sara amongst his drab grey and black attire. 

"Well, you're better looking in person than in your photo." he mentioned looking at the two siblings. "Welcome to Inaba. I'm Ryotaro Dojima. I'll be looking after you. Let's see... I'm your mother's brother... and that about sums it up."

"It's nice to meet you." responded Yū, ever the social butterfly. 

"H-hello" stuttered Sara. Her cheeks turning peachy in embarrassment. 

"Heh. You probably don't remember, but we've met. I've changed both your diapers before, you know." said Dojima amusedly. 

"A-ah", Sara dumbly replies. Her cheeks a bright cherry red, which only served to make Yū smirk at her expense.

"This here's my daughter" he continued, motioning to the little brown hair girl hidden behind him, "Come on, Nanako, introduce yourself to your cousins."

Nanako meekly responded, "...... ...'lo.". Her brown eyes flickering over to her cousins' faces briefly. Sara waved calmly at her cousin, smiling warmly. Nanako gave a small close-mouth smile before her eyes reconnected with her feet, and she darted back behind her Dad. 

Dojima chuckles warmly at Nanako's antics. "What're you so shy for?", he comments. 

Nanako's cheeks light up before her face scrunches in annoyance and faux anger, and she smacks her Dad right in the derriere. 

"Ow, hahaha." he chuckles, rubbing away the stinging sensation.

With the awkward feeling of their initial encounter gone, Sara began to feel more comfortable. 

"Um…. Thank you for taking us in for the year, Oji-san" she says softly, trying to remain calm as her nerves lit a fire in her stomach. 

"No worries, kid." he says smiling back at her. "Well then... Let's get going. My car's over there."

The small family of four walked over to the family car, toting bags in hand. And off they went, heading to the Dojima household but not before making a pit stop at Moel petrol station. 

\-----

##### Central Shopping District

Sara sat in the car absorbing all the new sights that Inaba had to offer, not taking notice of her brother's conversation with the petrol station attendant. She drank in the sight of the little stores that littered the central shopping district, all so very different from the big city, but at the same time quaint and homely. 

She dearly hoped that there would be a textile store or at the very least a store that held art supplies so that she could continue working on her projects this coming year. Sara dreaded to think about how bored she would be if she wasn't able to continue her hobbies while living here. 

"NNgh" groaned Yū. 

Quickly broken out from her mixed thoughts, Sara peered at her brother as he rubbed sorely at his head, pinching his nose. Maybe he was feeling sick from all their travel? 

"...Are you okay?" voiced Nanako, "Did you get carsick? You don't look too good…"

Sara quickly hopped out of the car, grabbing her spare bottle of water and rushing to her brother's aid. With one hand placed on his back in comfort and the other offering her bottle.

"Yū, do you want some water?" she questioned, concern painted on her face, "You look pale".

He smiled at Sara's concern and shook his head as colour slowly returned back to his face. 

Yū returned to his seat in the car but not before patting his short little sister on the head for her quick thinking. 

"Yū!", as a small blush erupted on Sara's face followed by Nanako's quiet giggle.

"Right - are we ready to go?" grunted Dojima, the patter of his leather shoes on the pavement interrupting the cousins' antics. 

"Mmmhmm!" smiled Nanako, with Sara nodding along.

The car ride to the Dojima residence was quiet. The white noise of the wind brushing past the car and the tires on the road paved a calming atmosphere which only simmered ever so slightly as Sara's anticipation rose. 

Glancing out of the window, Sara took in the northern section of the shopping district. Things appeared to be too quiet, too empty. Paper notices stuck to seemingly abandoned storefronts floated with the wind like ghosts. 

The drab sight was only broken up by the splash of red made by a giant tori gate opening up to a green area. But hopes skyrocketed as right next door, Sara thought she saw a large textile shop. Perhaps she would be in luck after all!

The car rumbled out of the shopping district and into the residential area. Houses of all shapes and sizes were passed by as the family of four made their way home. 

Rolling into their driveway, Sara's stomach rolled uneasily as nerves once again rattled her limbs. Seeing the place she would call home for the next year confirmed that things were really about to change. Whether it would be for the better or worse was yet to be seen.

\-----

##### Dojima Residence, Afternoon

Soon enough, both Yū and Sara's bags were brought into their new home. 

"Right….", started Dojima, addressing the siblings, "I've given the spare room to Yū.". His hand motioning to the room in front of them.

"Now, Sara, I was thinking…", he continued, "you probably wouldn't enjoy sharing a room with your brother… given he is a teenage boy…. But I was hoping that you wouldn't mind sharing with Nanako?". 

Sara peered down at her younger cousin who was standing in the doorway of her room, down the hall from Yū's. 

"I don't mind as long as Nanako's okay with it!" she chirped, "It's her space I would be intruding on."

"It's okay!" smiled Nanako gratefully as she walked over to take Sara's hand in her smaller one, obviously feeling more confortable around me than Yū. "Can you teach me to do hair like yours?" she asked pointing at the thin braided crown weaved in dividing Sara's fringe from her flowing silver tresses.

"Sure" grinned Sara, softly curling her hand around Nanako's. The two padded down the hallway, away from the boys and slowly worked at unpacking some of Sara's things. 

\----

##### Dojima Residence, Evening

Sara and Nanako spent the afternoon setting up their shared room and getting to know their new roommate, and and eventually the afternoon turned into evening. In that time, Dojima bought a feast for the new family of four in celebration of the Narukami siblings safely arriving in Inaba. Deliciously colourful sushi platters and cold convenience store-bought drinks decorated the tea table in the living room, bringing a happy end to what was otherwise an anxiety-ridden day. 

"All right, let's have a toast." announced Dojima. Everyone's eyes locked on the head of house, ears alert for what he had to say. 

"So... Your mom and dad are busy as always... They're working overseas, was it? I know it's only for a year, but getting stuck in a place like this because of your parents…" he sighed before continuing, "It's rough being a kid. Well, it's just me and Nanako here, so it'll be nice having someone like you around. So long as you're here, you're part of the family, so make yourself at home." 

"Cheers to that!", cheered Sara, a gentle smile lighting up her face. 

"Thank you for your kindness." replied her brother stoically.

"C'mon, there's no need to be so formal. Look, you're making Nanako all tense." said Dojima mirthfully, gesturing over to Nanako who had a confused look on her face, unsure whether to look happy or sad. 

Sara locked eyes with Nanako before sticking out her tongue at her cousin and crossing her eyes to lighten the mood. Nanako smiled gratefully and giggled behind her hand at Sara's goofiness. 

"Well, anyway... Let's eat." he continued, ignoring the antics of the two girls. 

But, before they all could dig into the feast before them, the ringing of a phone pierced the air. Dojima gave a groan, "Ugh... Who's calling at this hour?". 

He answered the phone and talked for a short while. The three cousins' eyes peered at him in curiosity. 

Dojima sighed before speaking apologetically, "Sorry, but I gotta go take care of some business. Go ahead and eat without me.". 

He grabbed his coat, keys and wallet before starting to exit the house, organising with Nanako to help out her cousins if they needed anything while settling in.

The two silver-ettes watched on silently, saddened by the abrupt ending to the evening's celebrations.

"Hey…. Nanako?" prompted Sara with a an empathetic smile, "If you're allowed, do you wanna watch TV and finish dinner with us?". 

"Umm… okay" the young girl replied with eyes downcast at the unfortunate turn of events. She trodded over to her cushion and pressed the 'on' button of the TV remote.  
The black box sprang to life, clearly showing the local new channel and weather announcements for the week. 

"…Let's eat." mumbled Nanako. 

Sara locked eyes with Yū as a thick fog of awkwardness and uncertainty clung to the room. She gestured with her eyes and nodded her head over to Nanako, motioning to her dunderhead of a brother to fix the situation and say something. But instead he opened and shut his mouth several times, looking like a blubbering fish. 

Sara sighed, "Say, Nanako?."

"Mmm?" hummed Nanako looking away from the TV. 

"What does your Dad do?"

"He…" Nanako started, "investigates stuff. Like crime scenes".

"Oh, like a detective?"

"Yeah!"

Their conversation was cut short by the local news moving to a new story about a sordid affair between a city council secretary and a female reporter. 

Yū seemed a bit interested, but Sara and Nanako looked at each other bored with the news. 

"…This is boring" said Nanako bluntly before switching the TV station to a new channel where a colourful commercial popped up. 

Sara listened on to the cheery tune about a store call 'Junes'. She watched on as Nanako perked up, singing the jingle and giggling. 

With the awkward situation now long gone, Sara peered over to her older brother noticing he hadn't touched his food. 

"Hey, Yū? Aren’t you gonna eat?" questioned Sara with Nanako nodding along looking concerned. 

The cousins all picked up their chopsticks and started filling their stomachs with their sushi feast, not realising how hungry they all really had been. 

\-----

Yū was the first to finish his food. He excused himself from the tea table where the two girls were sat before backtracking and asking what he could do to help clean up. 

"Ummmm…" responded Nanako, flabbergasted at the unexpected question. 

"Yū, you look tired from our trip…" Sara butted in, "I'll help Nanako, and you go rest up. You were the one feeling sick earlier."

A grateful smile graced Nanako's face as she nodded in agreement with her cousin's initiative. 

Yū blinked tiredly, murmuring his thanks and retreated to his room to rest. 

The room returned to a comfortable quiet as the two cousins finished their dinners and started tidying the living room and kitchen. 

"Hey Nanako", started Sara, "I put your Dad's dinner in the fridge for when he gets home…. Do you have some paper or a sticky note that I can use to let him know?"

Nanako looked up at her cousin with grateful eyes. "Ummm, yep!" she chirped, bouncing over to the cabinet, pulling out various pieces of coloured stationery, but eventually settling on a bright yellow post-it note pad and a thick blue marker to hand to Sara.

In bold blue 'Dinner in fridge!' was scribbled on a note and promptly stuck on the cool silver fridge. 

"There we go!" announced Sara, "Bed time?" 

Nanako nodded, walking off with her cousin in tow to get ready for bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was super disappointed at the lack of 'OC' or 'Reader' fics in the Persona 4 gallery, so I figured I'd just write myself what I wanted. My aim is to finish writing it all up before I get bogged down with work, so I can continue posting over the next couple months. But um… keep your fingers crossed.
> 
> This is also my first work so be kind - thanks! And please excuse any formatting errors that might pop up - I had to relearn html lol


	2. First Day, First Impressions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara settles into the Dojima household, striking up a sisterly relationship with her cousin Nanako. But both Yū and Sara still need to survive their first day at school, whilst the beginnings of a murder-mystery unfolds in the small country town.

#### April 12, 2011

##### Dojima Residence, Early Morning

"Oii! Yū!! Wake up you lazy egg!" shouted Sara, rocking her lazy sack of bones brother awake. 

"Urghhh" responded Yū disorientated. 

"I'm helping Nanako cook breakfast so hurry and get ready or you'll be late!"

\-----

At the kitchen counter little Nanako was divvying up the hot breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast onto three sets of plates. 

"Good job Nanako! It smells so goooood!!" cheered Sara half drooling over her plate of food already. "Did you find the bento I made you?"

"Mmmhmm!" hummed Nanako biting into her crispy buttered toast. "It looks yummy! Thank you!"

The happy sounds of eating were broken by Yū stumbling down the stairs still half asleep. 

"You didn't make me one, imouto?" questioned Yū indignantly. 

"Nah, you're old enough to sort yourself out" 

"You're so mean!"

The younger Narumaki responded politely by poking out her tongue. Nanako's giggles followed the sibling's antics. 

Yū chuckled at the exchange and plodded over to sit at the dining table to scoff down his warm and inviting breakfast. 

"Hey Nanako?" Yū paused, "Did your father go to work?"

"There was some kind of trouble. He won’t be back." she replied, "But you’re both starting school today, right? My school’s on the way, so… I told Sara-nee that we can go together."

"See Yū, Nanako's super responsible, unlike someone else I know!" teased Sara, moving to wash up her empty plate in the kitchen sink. 

A pink flush rose up on little Nanako's face. 

"Hey, Sara-nee…?" prompted Nanako. 

"Mmm?"

"You said you'd help me do my hair before we leave for school today"

"So I did! Quickly finish your breakfast, we can do it while the Yū the slowpoke finishes his grub" 

Nanako grinned up at Sara before finishing the scraps on her plate. Dirty plates were quickly dropped into the sink to be washed.

"C'mon Nanako, you can do my hair and I'll do yours." motioned Sara. 

Sara swept Nanako's brown locks and began to weave them into a thin braid behind Nanako's fringe, blending the braid into Nanako's typical short pigtails and finishing off each side with a pink bow.

"Aaaaaand - there we go!" cheered Sara with a big silly grin on her face, "A braid crown à la Nanako!"

"Your turn!" smiled Nanako, tugging her cousin to sit on the floor in front of her. 

"Alright, alright. Only something simple to start off, okay?" 

"Mmmhmm"

"How about you try what you learnt last night? The little side braids?"

"With half your hair up, and half down?"

"That sounds good, Nanako!"

Nanako's little hands started weaving Sara's long silver locks into small braids to circle the crown of her head. With a couple tugs and steady hands, Nanako polished off Sara's look with little baby blue clips that matched her blue-grey eyes.

"It's done!" 

"Wow, it looks good Nanako!" exclaimed Sara, before glancing at the clock on the wall, "Hey Yū, we gotta start leaving if we all wanna make it to school on time!" 

Yū was startled out of his trance at his sister's voice. 

Sara looked at him concerned, "Hey are you okay? You look like you didn't sleep too well…".

Her brother just shook his head, quietly gathered his belongings and waited for the two girls to put their shoes on so they could all leave. 

\-----

##### School Zone, Samegawa Flood Plain, Morning

The walk to school was quiet. Sara's stomach rolled uneasily as her head filled with doubts and anxiety. Nanako's hand wrapped in hers was a small comfort, as the smaller girl lead them through the winding streets of Inaba. 

"You keep going straight from here." announced Nanako, "My school’s this way. See you."

Sara waved at Nanako as she walked off to join the other primary school children on their walk to school. 

"Let's go Sara", said Yū, breaking her silence.

Sara just hummed and started walking along side her brother towards their new high school, Yasogami High. 

\-----

##### School Zone, Intersection in front of the school

Continuing up the street, they heard a yell, as a student on a bike raced past. Sara jumped in surprise, feeling the a burst of air as the biking student almost hit her. Yū grabbed on to her arm as she reflexively jumped.

"Hey, careful!" she yelled at him for his carelessness. 

The careless biking student crashed into a telephone pole - ouch! Yū paused to glance at the student, seemingly considering telling in off, but mostly showing pity for the poor student. 

"Yu, we should go, we still need to find the school office and our new classrooms" murmured Sara, also looking at the poor student who was groaning in pain. 

The two siblings walked on as the rain pattered on their umbrellas. Sara hoped that that student had learned his lesson after his painful tumble. 

\-----

##### Yasogami High School, Morning

Walking up the hill and into the school lobby Sara couldn't help but feel small again. Yasogami High felt big and unknown. A stab of nerves hit her belly again. This year wasn't meant to go like this. She was supposed to be in the city with all the excitement of the lights, the fashion and cute cafes…. Not stuck in the country. In the rush to pack her things and travel all the way here, Sara had to leave her student intern role at a high-end fashion design studio along with all prospects of being able to work there once she graduated from high school. 

With a big sigh, Sara made her way into the school building, looking for the principal that was meant to greet them and show the Narukami siblings around their new educational prison. 

"Ah, Yū and Sara Narukami." the old bearded principal greeted, "Welcome to Yasogami High, I hope your had a comfortable trip to Inaba?"

The siblings nodded respectfully. 

"If you follow me to the school office, we'll get you set up with your school schedules and bring you to your new classrooms." 

Following the principal through wooden hallways of Yasogami the whispers of the students seemed to trail behind them. Sara felt more like a zoo animal rather than a high school student with all the eyes that followed each movement she made. 

_"I heard there’s going to be a transfer student from the city in this city."_  
_"Huh? Really? A guy or a girl?"_  
_"Actually, I heard there were two!"_  
_"I hope they're cute, I wouldn't mind something nice to look at for once."_  
_"Hey, don't be rude!"_  
_"What year do you think they're in?"_

Finally, their schedules were collected and homeroom teachers introduced. Sara couldn't help but feel bad for her older brother. His homeroom teacher looked like he was in dire need of some extreme dental work, possibly a new spine and whole wardrobe makeover. Not that hers was any better. She was questioning the fashion choices of all of Inaba, if her homeroom teacher was anything to go by. Whoever would wear an Egyptian pharaoh's headdress out in public everyday and all day obviously had some screws loose. 

The sound of the school bell rang through the crowded halls of the high school, followed by the scattering of feet as students walked into their classrooms. 

"See you after school, Yū" said Sara, seeing him nod in response. She parted ways from her brother and followed Ms. Sofue to her new classroom, 1-1 just down the hall. The students quickly settling into their sets and waiting patiently for their homeroom teacher.

"Alright class. Welcome to your first day back at school I'm Kimiko Sofue your homeroom teacher for the year. To start, we have a new transfer student! She has just made a big move from the big city to Inaba, so please treat her well!"

"If you'd like to please introduce yourself to the class?" asked Ms. Sofue as she motioned for Sara walk into the classroom. 

Feeling hundreds of eyes stuck on her, Sara froze. The stabbing nerves and knots in her stomach worsened as she paled in fright. 

"Um… I-" 

Eyes watched her expectantly. She took a deep breath and swallowed, trying to wet her dry throat. 

Quickly in a quiet voice, she announced "I-… I'm Sara Narukami…. Please take care of me". 

"Thank you Narukami, please take a seat" said Ms Sofue motioning to the back of the classroom

Sara shuffled awkwardly to the free seat at the back of the classroom next to the window. The student's eyes followed her as she walked along the rows of chairs and tables. Whispers seemed to sprout from their lips, but Sara couldn't discern what was being said, just that the noise of the whispers and gossip seemed to rise and rise with each step as she carefully avoided making eye contact with her fellow classmates. 

Once she finally made it to her worn, wooden seat, she couldn't help but thing that the one upside was she had a nice view of the courtyard. And so started her life at Yasogami High.

\-----

##### Yasogami High School, Afternoon

The school day ticked by quickly. General introductions, expectations and so on. The only odd thing was a school intercom announcement in the middle of the day for an unexpected staff meeting and a request for all students to stay in their classrooms. 

Sara sat stuck at her desk, waiting for the miserable day to end. Peering out the window she was entranced by the fog rolling into the courtyard. The creeping opaque clouds slowly devoured the lights and all sense of sight. It was wondrous yet eerie. A chill crept up her spine as her thoughts trailed off thinking about what scary things could be hidden in those thick clouds of fog, just like in that Stephen King novel. But... she also couldn’t help but think how pretty the fog was - it was almost like metres and metres of chiffon had been dropped atop Inaba, blinding all to the secrets within. 

Her classmates congregated around the middle of the classroom chatting and gossiping about the fog, the news from last night and the new transfer students. Nothing of interest, thought Sara. She wondered if Yū was having a better day than she was. All she wanted to do was to go home, curl up with a warm cup of tea and work on her newest embroidery project, but unfortunately school was a necessary evil of everyday life. 

The school intercom interrupted her train of thought yet again. An incident had occurred? How curious, maybe Stephen King was a fortune teller and not just a psychological thriller author. 

The sound of gossip grew louder as the students came up with more and more ridiculous theories concerning the school announcement. Obviously this was the most interesting thing that had ever happened in this town for a long time. With another sigh, Sara collected her things and waited for her brother at the shoe lockers, carefully avoiding making eye contact with any and everyone. She didn't want to have to make awkward small talk or have to explain herself to pushy teenage boys who didn't understand she didn't want to talk to them. 

"Sara" a familiar voice called out. 

Yū walked down the corridor, having climbed down the stairs to the first floor of the learning building. He was followed by two other girls, second-years by the looks of things. One had brown hair in a bob cut and wore a bright green sports jumper whilst the other had long straight black hair held back by a red hairband and wore a red sweater over her school uniform. 

Sara waved nervously over to the trio of second-years. 

"Hi" she responded dumbly, unsure how to approach the new faces in front of her. 

"Hi! I'm Chie Satonaka!" said the brown haired girl, introducing herself, "We're in Yū's class. He's told us that you're his younger sister! It's so nice to meet you!" 

Sara nodded and smiled weakly.

"Oh… I'm Yukiko Amagi" said the other girl softly, "Nice to meet you. I hope you're settling in well….".

"Um… yes. Thank you" Sara responded meekly. 

Chie butted in, "We're walking home with Yū… do you want to join us? Yanno, get a lay of the land and all that?"

"Um.. Okay" nodded Sara. 

The quartet departed from the school building, walking towards the main gate of the school. Sara meandered behind the three second-year, unsure how to respond to their upbeat antics. She paused as the second-years stopped to talk to a strange looking student who appeared to be from an entirely different school based on his uniform. 

Not listening to what was happening, Sara waited for the strange confrontation to play out. Yukiko seemed a bit clueless, Chie appeared to get angry and poor Yū just sat there like a chicken. Sara figured she should probably pay more attention now that they started moving again. But, the quartet was again stopped, this time by the biking student who almost flattened her with his bike just this morning. 

They seemed to be talking about Yukiko and her so called 'admirers'. The biking student appeared to ask Yukiko out again only to be turned down bluntly, that was before he made eye contact with Sara. 

'ABORT - ABORT! MAYDAY MAYDAY' sirens went off in Sara's head, 'SOCIAL INTERACTION IMMENENT'.

"Oh hey!" he greeted, "Since Yukiko doesn't wanna hang out, what about you? You're pretty cute." 

Sara stared blankly, unsure how to answer the student who was almost the reason she would've been a pancake earlier today. In all honesty, she just wanted to run away from the growing awkwardness. Thankfully her saintly brother interrupted and pulled her away from the situation to start walking with Chie and Yukiko. 

The four Yasogami students slowly walked through winding residential streets, chatting about what there was to do in the small town. There wasn't much apparently. Sara learnt that Yukiko's family owned an Inn that was apparently one of the larger attractions that the town offered. But then the conversation got awkward again as Chie starting talking about Yukiko's love life. Sara could empathise with Yukiko, if this afternoon's creepy event was anything to go by, she wouldn't want to go out with any guy ever. 

As they approached a small intersection, a group of housewives gathered to gossip.

 _"So that high schooler left school early, and as she came down this street…"_  
_"Wow. Who could imagine THAT hanging from an antenna?"_  
_"I wanted to see it too."_  
_"Uh, you got here too late… The police and fire department took it down just a moment ago."_  
_"Well, I think it’s terrifying. I can’t believe a dead body showed up around here."_

The four students stood in stupor, a dead body? Sara groaned internally, really hoping that her favourite novel wasn't really playing out in real life. 

"Hey, what’re you doing here?" shouted a familiar gruff voice. 

Dojima looked stressed and tired as he walked up to the quartet. 

"We're just passing by" replied Yū. 

"We're heading home, Oji-san" Sara continued.

Dojima signed and muttered under his breath about the principal. Sara supposed that the school announcement really wasn't all that helpful if they'd managed to stumble upon the crime scene so easily. She was broken from her thoughts as her brother's new classmates and friends then became acquainted with their new guardian before being told to hurry up and head home. 

About to leave for home, the sound of someone running and then being sick pierced the air. The sounds were soon joined by the acidic smell of puke. Ew. 

Sara glanced over to the ragged looking young man who was puking his guts out in the gutter. Well, at least he had the decency to not contaminate the crime scene, she thought whilst wrinkling her nose at the smell of puke that has now dissipated into the nearby area. 

"Adachi! How long are you going to act like a rookie? You want to be sent back to the central office!?" yelled Dojima. 

The poor detective seemed to be remorseful, but really looked more pitiful than anything. 

With her Uncle now preoccupied with his job and handling that young detective, the quartet of students moved on. The second-years speculated about what they had heard about a dead body and the peculiar circumstances upon which it was found. Sara just hope that 'The Mist' wasn't going to replay in real life in Inaba, that would be a little too much adventure for this small town to handle. 

\-----

##### Dojima Residence, Evening

The trio of cousins sat quietly in the living room watching the TV as the local news announced the discovery of the dead body of the news reporter in Inaba and mentioning the involvment of the Inaba Police Department.

"Ah! The Inaba Police Department!" gasped Nanko, "Th-That’s where dad works!"

"It'll be okay, Nanako." soothed Yū.

"Yeah, I'm sure your Dad is in control of everything that's going on over there" continued Sara. 

The news slice continued to describe in detail the crime scene and speculate about the case and its particulars. 

"They found her on the roof? That’s scary…" commented Nanako, her brow furrowing, "Oh, it’s Junes!"

The news switched to a Junes commercial and Nanako cutely sang along with the catchy Jingle.

"You're such a good singer, Nanako" Sara giggled at her little cousin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the people who read this.
> 
> If you're wondering where Kanji is... well, he doesn't really turn up in the original story line for a little bit - BUT wait for the next couple chapters for possible cameos 🙃
> 
> Just reiterating, this was all written on a whim, so honestly, if people reading this thinks its crappy, I wouldn't take any offence.


	3. Cousins Shopping Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara survives her second day at Yasogami High and spends time exploring the shopping district with Nanako. Get keen for some cute cousin antics 😬

#### April 13, 2011

##### Dojima Residence, Early Morning

Sara woke up early the next morning, starting the day by assembling both lunch and breakfast for herself and Nanako. Creeping past the guest room, she could hear Yū's soft snores through the door - he was being a lazy bum again. 

Figuring that her brother could fend for himself, Sara left the Dojima residence with Nanako, hoping to see her off to her school gate before walking to Yasogami High. 

\-----

##### School Zone, Samegawa Flood Plain, Morning

Nanako and Sara walked slowly along the paved road, enjoying the smell of the fresh morning air and sound of animals waking up around them. 

"Ne, Sara-nee?" Nanako tugged on Sara's sleeve, "Do you think Dad will be back tonight?". Her forehead was furrowed in worry. 

"I'm sure he'll be back as soon as he can…" replied Sara, trying to carefully dance around the question, "Hey, how about we grab some groceries after school and we can cook a nice dinner and bento for him since he's so busy?"

Her younger cousin smiled and hummed in agreement with Sara's idea as they made plans to meet up after school.

When they finally made it to the gate of Nanako's school, Sara gave her a small pat on the head wishing her a good day at school and watched her as she walked calmly onto the school grounds and into the main building, before turning around to walk to Yasogami High. 

Once back at Samegawa flood plain, Sara spotted a familiar silver-ette. 

"Hey, Yū." she greeted cheekily, "Someone decided to rise from the dead". 

Her good mood was obviously not reciprocated with the grunt she received from her brother, as they walked on in silence. Maybe she should have made him breakfast after all….?

\-----

##### School Zone, Intersection in front of the school

Sara's heart sped up realising where she was. The place of her almost-death experience. She sorely hoped it wouldn't happen again today, but that was when she heard the crunching of bicycle tires on asphalt in the distance. She quickly traded spaces with Yū so that he was the one closer to the road, hoping that his towering 180cm mass could take a hit in her stead.

Hearing the sound of the bicycle catching up to them, Sara didn't dare look behind in case she cursed herself to a future of looking and feeling like a pancake. Closer, and closer yet the sound crunched. 

'BAM'

Surprised that she didn't find herself or Yū flattened, Sara peeked over to her right. The biking student had yet another accident, but this time he was so clumsy that he had managed to fall off his bike and headfirst into a trash can. 

'Snrk' Sara snorted in amusement. Serves him right for his actions yesterday. Yū rolled his eyes and strode over to the poor student who was now rolling around in the trash can. 

"S-someone…" he pitifully whimpered. 

Yū lifted off the trash can and helped his classmate. He seemed grateful for Yū's help. 

Sara watched on for a moment before moving on up the hill to school, not wanting to be late. The two boys appeared to be getting on quiet well, even starting to gossip like schoolgirls. 

\-----

##### After School

The school day started and ended without much fuss. Sara kept her head down and bolted off to meet up with Nanako at the Samegawa flood plain so they could shop around the central shopping district and then grab groceries from Junes. She was sure that Yū had probably already made plans to meet up with his newly found friends, him being a total social butterfly and all. 

"Hey Nanako!" waved Sara as she arrived at the little shelter. 

Nanako spotted her older cousin and ran over to greet her with a smile, "Sara-nee, let's go! I want to show you all the shops!"

"Okay, okay. Before we go though… did you make a shopping list?"

"Yep! I even made sure to write down pickled radish! Dad likes that."

"Ooh, that sounds good! Great job, Nanako!" Sara cheered on as they headed towards the central shopping district. 

Looking interestedly at the small shops that littered the street, Sara decided to ask her younger cousin if she had a favourite shop that they should start at. 

"Junes!" cheered Nanako as Sara laughed at her excitement. 

"Don't worry we'll go there as soon as we scope out some of the smaller shops, okay?"

"Mmmhmm!" 

"Ne, Nanako, how about, I get you a small present while we're here? As a small thank you for helping me settle in these last few days?"

"Really?" Nanako wondered, her brown eyes getting big at the prospects of a present.

"Really." giggled Sara. 

"Ummm, okay!" Nanako grinned back.

The two girls scoped out the shops along the main road, starting out by checking out the small bookstore - which seemed to have more self-help books than any books for leisure reading. Hopping over to the blacksmith Nanako gasped at the pointy looking swords and shiny plates of armour whilst Sara admired the artistry of the fine engravings the master blacksmith had managed in several decorative fans and small knives. Glancing at the tofu store, the two girls discussed their favourite tofu dishes and debated which type of tofu was the best. They then headed to the medicine shop, pulling faces at one another, reacting to the strange smells that permeated from oddly coloured jars and twisted looking preserved plants. 

Moving on to the northern side of the district Sara's stomach grumbled as she took in the delicious wafting smells of Chinese food and street food. 

"Nanako?" prompted Sara, "Do you want a snack before we finish checking out the other side of the shopping district?"

"Hmmm okay! I can hear you're hungry too! Let's go!", smiled Nanako.

Buying a handful of beef skewers from Souzai Daigaku and canned drinks from the vending machine, the two girls sat down and enjoyed their food and each other's company. As the meaty goodness of the skewers was quickly devoured, the cousins debated which vending machine drink was best. 

"I still think TaP Soda is the best!" declared Sara. 

"No, Orange Smash! TaP Soda is tasteless!" argued Nanako. 

"Mmm, Orange Smash is too sweet…. What about Second Maid? It's kind of a mix between the two?"

"I guess Second Maid is okay…."

They continued their debate about vending machine drinks as they cleared their mess from the table outside Souzai Daigaku and carried on to the last few shops along the central shopping district. As they walked past a green looking space and a large red tori gate, Sara stopped to have a peek, thinking she saw a flash of orange rustling through the thick greenery. 

"Hey Nanako? What's down here… is this an old shrine?"

"Mmmm, I think so? Not many people visit anymore though"

Sara hummed in thought, making a mental note to visit when she had a day free to explore more elusive areas of the town. She was sure there'd be some nice places to take photos or do a photoshoot if the weather permitted….

Moved out of her thoughts, Sara's eyes met the large hand-painted sign reading 'Tatsumi Textiles'. Already curious, she walked up to the wooden shop doors. 

"Nanako! I'm gonna have a look in here okay? You wanna come?"

"Mmm okay!" Nanako replied, following her older cousin diligently. 

The store seemed bigger on the inside, as tall shelves and hangers held brightly colour fabrics, dyes and pre-made textile works like scarves, kimonos and even a small display of stuffed toys for sale. Large bolts of fabrics ranging from simple cotton mixes to extravagant silks seemed loom over Sara's small frame. Her amazement over the diverse range of fabrics and textiles was gently interrupted by a small older looking lady who stepped out from the shoji door towards the back of the shop floor. The lady was dressed in a traditional yukata and looked surprised at the new first-time customers. 

"Hello, welcome to Tatsumi Textiles" she greeted the two girls warmly.

"Ah, hello! Your store is amazing!" gushed Sara. 

The lady chucked warmly in response, "Thank you! Can I help you with anything today?"

"Um, I'm actually just looking around… I just moved here from the city, you see…"

"Wow, that's a big move. What brings you here to Inaba, then..?" continued the storekeeper.

"I'm living with my Uncle for the year while my parents work overseas…." replied Sara, "My cousin Nanako is showing me around town today though!", motioning to the small girl who was trying to hide behind her not very tall cousin, but also looking interestedly at the cute knitted soft toys in a small display in the shop.

"Ah, I can see that she's got her eye on our soft toy display." chuckled the storekeeper, "You can go ahead and have a feel, pick one you like!"

"Oba-san, that's too much… let me pay for it at least! You don't even know my name" exclaimed Sara.

"Ahaha - Oba-san, that's much too formal. I'm Sakura Tatsumi. And you are?" 

"I'm Sara Narukami. Nice to meet you!" 

"So now that we're introduced, Narukami-san, am I allowed to gift your cousin one of our soft toys?"

"Tatsumi-san, Sara is fine." puffed Sara, "I supposed I can't change your mind on letting me pay?"

"Not at all!" 

Sara sighed, conceding to Tatsumi's iron will. 

"Okay - thank you so much, Tatsumi-san." she gratefully smiled at Tatsumi-san before firing off some of her questions, "Do you make these soft toys yourself?"

"Actually - my son made these plushies. He's got skilled hands…" Tatsumi-san laughed, "You may know him, he's in your year at Yasogami High"

"Really?! These plushies look so professional! They're so well made!" Sara gushed, "I only wish I had such a steady hand to have this level of craftmanship…."

"Ah, well we run handicrafts classes every Monday if you're interested in learning something new, or perfecting your skills" said Tatsumi-san with a twinkle in her eye, 

"That sounds like lots of fun!" beamed Sara before she realised the time, "Hey Nanako, we have to head off to Junes for groceries soon… have you picked your favourite plushie yet?"

"Mmmm… yep!" replied Nanako, walking over with a small pink coloured platypus.

"What do we say to Tatsumi-san, Nanako?"

"Thank you so much Tatsumi-san!" smiled Nanako

Tatsumi-san grinned happily at the cousin-duo as they waved goodbye and walked out the wooden doors of the textile shop. 

As they walked out Sara brushed past a tall delinquent looking teen dressed in all black, which contrasted with his bleached blonde hair. With her social battery worn out, she continued her walk with Nanako to the shuttle bus to Junes. 

Once safely on the bus, Sara and Nanako watched calmly as the streets and greenery of the town rushed by, a blur. 'Speed… I am speed.' she thought jokingly as she mentally mapped their potential route in and out of the giant department store.

'Right… Fresh food first… Then the canned, preserved or packeted….' Sara recited in her head, deep in thought. 'Quickly swing by the sales? And then the frozens… Oh and I almost forgot the eggs? Hmmm…' 

She was broken from her thoughts by who Nanko excitedly tugged at the sleeve of her school uniform. 

"We're here!" Nanako cutely announced before singing - "Every day’s great at your Junes!"

Grinning at Nanako's infectious adorableness, Sara got up from her seat let the little girl guide her off the bus and into the grocery section of the huge department store to start on their grocery escapades. 

\-----

##### Dojima Residence, Evening 

Sara and Nanako had slaved away in the kitchen to make chicken katsu don and miso soup for dinner, with plenty of leftovers to be made into bentos for the next day. The salivating smells permeated through the living room of the Dojima residence, increasing the two girls' anticipation for the delicious meal. 

Just as the food was about ready and the sun had already set, the older Narukami, Yū finally turned up. 

"Hey welcome home! We weren't sure if you were gonna make it…." scolded Sara looking fierce holding up an oily spatula and her 5'2 form drowning in a pink apron that was obviously not designed for someone of her height. "Since you're back you can clean the table up so we can eat!"

Yū feeling bad now only seeing the effort Sara and Nanako had put into their dinner, silently did as he was told. His stomach growled as he did so, responding excitedly to the delicious smells wafting from the kitchen stove.

Nanako stood on a small pink foot stool at the kitchen sink from previously helping Sara clean up their mess. Her brown eyes watched him track back and forth from the kitchen and tea table, unsure how to approach the older male Narukami who seemed a bit imposing. That was, until Yū turned to Nanako asking, "Did your father call?". He was probably wondering where Dojima was this late at night. 

The poor little girl shook her head. Her brown eyes glassy with worry seeing how dark the day had already become. Sara patted Nanako's shoulder, attempting to relieve the youngest cousin of her worry and then passed her a couple plates of food to place on the tea table so they could start their dinner. 

With the three cousins seated at the table ready to dig into their food, noises came from the front door. Dojima looks exhausted as he walks into the living room. His hair mussed, shirt ruffled and a scowl seemingly permanently etched into his forehead. He groans as he sits down on the sofa in the living room, sinking into the depths of the cushion-y comfort.

The TV is playing in the background, the local news turning on just as Sara turns to hand a small bowl of food to her uncle, attempting to force him to eat something. She vaguely listens as the news segment talks about the previous day's incident revolving around the dead TV reporter, and confirms the gossip about the affair. 'So nothing new', she thought.

But then the news switched to an interview with a local student, apparently they had found the body - the poor thing. Uncle Dojima seemed tired with how aggressively the media was following the case. Yū looked as if he recognised the student on the screen. The media obviously wasn't doing a good enough job of keeping the identity of minors safe.

The news segment ended with a commercial for Junes and Nanko happily singing along with the catchy jingle. The young girl turned to her father to ask pleadingly, "Hey Dad… Can we go to Junes together sometime?"

However, by the time the news segment had finished, Dojima had dozed off, most likely run dry from having to handle this new case and the media. Sara smiled sadly at her younger cousin, "Hey… I'm sure he'd love to take you when he's got a free day… Why don't we ask him later when he's gotten some rest?"

Nanako nodded along, understanding that her father so obviously needed some sleep. The three cousins quickly finished their food and the girls made sure to set aside a packed meal for the sleeping Dojima patriarch. As the girls did so, labelling the box with an aggressively yellow sticky note, Sara commanded Yū to help finish washing up because it was only fair since they had done all the cooking and shopping. 

\-----

##### Dojima Residence, Midnight

Sara and Nanako were comfortably asleep in their futons in their shared room, only to be woken by a loud 'THUMP'. 

The two girls looked at each other in fright and confusion, Nanako gripped onto her new pink platypus tightly. It sounded like it had come from the guest room, Yū's room. Sara calmed down Nanako, mentioning that Yū probably tripped and that she'd go check it out. 

She walked down the hallway and stopped just outside Yū's closed door, knocking quietly. 

"Hey Yū…?" she stage whispered, "Are you okay….?"  
When she didn't get a reply after a minute, she wondered what he was doing in there at this time of night

"You're not… doing what I think you're doing are you?!? That's disgusting! YŪ! At least clean up after yourself - eww! There are children in the house!" 

"Sara! It's not like that!" he whisper shouted, "I just tripped okay! Shut up!"

"Humph, okay… Night Yū"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: Kanji's mother doesn't have an official first name, so I just made something up lol.


	4. Exploring Inaba

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara explores more of Inaba while Yū goes off to the Junes electronics department (doing who knows what lol).

#### April 14, 2011

##### Early Morning

Sara and Nanako once again left the house early to enjoy a slow paced walk over the Samegawa flood plains to school. They had gathered leftovers from the previous night to make lunch boxes and noticed that the box they had allocated for Dojima was missing. Both girls hoped he had eaten it or taken it to work with him. 

The drizzly morning was cool as the fresh dribble of rain brought with a cool change in weather. As Sara walked with Nanako, she had to resist jumping in the fresh puddles that had formed both on the pathway and on the ground next to the pathway. 

Waving goodbye to Nanako, Sara made her way to Yasogami High, enjoying the fresh cool air on her skin. 'The rain never felt this good in the city…' she thought, 'Rain in the city is kind of like a grimy smog, it feels cool to the touch but usually leaves you feeling dirty… Even the smell of the rain is different here - sweet almost.'

Once at school, Sara stared out the window of the first floor classroom building. She watched disinterested as students made their way up the hill, through the gate and into the school lobby. Friend groups, cliques and boyfriends and girlfriends would chat loudly as they enjoyed the company of people. 

Amongst all the students Sara could spot a single head of silver as he made his way to school. 'Interesting…' she thought, noticing he was sharing an umbrella with someone who had dyed light brown hair. Ah, that was Chie. Sara couldn't help but wonder how close Yū was with the second-year girl already. What a player her older brother was. 

'Ding-Dong!' 

'Ah, there's the bell' thought Sara, meandering her way back to her classroom for homeroom. Ignoring the stares of her fellow classmates who she hadn't yet talked to, but in any case had no plans to initiate conversation - that took too much effort. 

\-----

##### Yasogami High School, After School

_What's up with the body being hung upside-down? That's so freaky!_   
_Is it to be like, mimicking an execution? It's messed up..._   
_My senpai told me it was a third-year named Saki Konishi who found the body._

Sara wasn't interested in gossip, but the name 'Konishi' sounded familiar - wasn't there a boy in her class with that name? So, maybe his sister? Sara thought that was rather careless and insensitive of the gossiping students to gossip so clearly in earshot of the said person's possible relative. People are awful. 

With a sigh, Sara leaves the classroom. She was ready to go home and have long soak in the bath or a nice cup of tea… or both… both sounded good. On her way out she spotted her brother. The two silver-ettes greeted one another before Yū informed Sara that he was on his way to check out Junes with his new found friends, but would be back for dinner.

She noticed that amongst his new friends was that biking student from the last few days - the one that had weirdly asked her to 'hang out' after he got turned down by Yukiko. Sara gave him a hard stare as she waved goodbye to the group of second years and walked off the school grounds to explore some of the secrets that Inaba held. 

\-----

##### Central Shopping District

Walking along the parallel street to the main road of the shopping district, the younger Narukami made her way to the north section of the district explore the shrine that she spotted yesterday on her shopping adventure with Nanako. She took a left and then walked up to the seemingly abandoned shrine. 

Staring up in wonder at the bright red tori gate that formed the entrance to the shrine, Sara thought that the rain made the shrine look magical - like something out of a Studio Ghibli movie. She joked to herself that maybe she'd find her own dragon or spirit companion here?

Holding up her clear umbrella above her head, she walked deeper into the grounds of the shrine. The gentle breeze brushed against chimes which decorated parts of the main shrine structure causing light tinkling sounds to dust the clearing. 

Looking around, Sara noticed the main building held a donation box which looked in need of serious work. The paint was chipped and sun-bleached, the wood had lost its stain and looked to be growing various colonies of microorganisms in its cracks. The decorative ropes and fabric decorations looked like they had also had better days, appearing grey and black from grime, dust and dirt. 

To the left of the shrine was an old wooden hanger for _ema_. It too looked old, but some of the _ema_ looked on the newer side. 'Sounds like Nanako was right about not many people visiting anymore…' thought Sara. 

"What a pity, this place is so pretty" said Sara, speaking her thoughts aloud. She brushed her hand along the old fences of the shrine. 

Lost in thought the silver-ette didn't notice a four-legged creature with orange fur watching her from the bushes. 

*Yip*

Startled by the sudden sound Sara jumped and looked around the clearing carefully watching for the source of the disturbance. Emerging slowly from the dark of the underbrush was a low crouching fox with scars over its face. Strangely it wore a red apron decorated with small pink hearts and a decorative frill. The apron, like everything else in the shrine was in tatters and in need of obvious repair and a good wash. 

"Hey there…" Sara said, talking gently to the fox. She was unsure about how to feel about the fox - on one hand it could easily hurt her, but something in its eyes told her it was just being cautious. Slowly crouching down, Sara balanced her umbrella in the crook of her neck and then reached slowly into her bag for some of the leftover chicken katsu held in her lunchbox. 

Placing the chicken down on the lid of her lunchbox, she offered the lid and food to the poor fox by placing it a little ways in front of her on the cobbled ground. The fox stalked forwards, apparently curious about the offering presented to it, but kept eye contact with Sara. 

Once close enough to the offering of chicken-y goodness, the fox gave it a sniff, and then another. Seemingly pleased the smell of the food its tongue gave it a lick, and then quickly snapped up the last pieces of chicken place on the lunchbox lid. 

Sara watched the fox, perhaps it was still hungry? 

The black eyes of the fox met Sara's blue-grey. Sara felt like she could understand that there was some level of trust between the animal and herself. Still a bit unsure of herself, she held a hand out to the animal, seeing how it would react. 

The fox move closer to sniff Sara's petite hand, gave it a lick and then rubbed its head into her hand. It began to give off little 'yips', which she guessed were happy sounds by the looks of the waggling of its full furry tail. Giggling at the antics of the fox Sara decided to give little scritches underneath the chin of her furry friend. 

The fox danced around her waist as she was still squatting close to the ground, holding the umbrella in the crook of her neck. 

"C'mon, boy?" guessed Sara, collecting her box lid and moving to sit under the cover provided by the shrine. To her surprise the fox shook its head at her words.

"Um… girl?" she guessed again, feeling even more curious about this fox after its actions. This time she received a nod and a happy 'yip' from the fox. 

Under the shelter of the shrine and the tinkling of the chimes, Sara spent the afternoon talking to her new found friend about her worries of starting her new life in this small town and dislike of her fellow students so far. Whenever her 'one-sided' conversation seemed to become sad or have a lull the fox would rub its head against her, in its foxy attempts to cheer her up. 

\-----

##### Evening

It was only when dusk had set in Sara realised how much time had passed. It was time to go home to help Nanako make dinner and after there should be some time to dedicate to her embroidery project. 

"Alright, Fox… It's time for me to go home now." said Sara sadly, having enjoyed the last few hours spent together. "Thank you for listening to me and spending the afternoon with me."

The fox yipped in response. Sara was almost reluctant to leave it behind in the cold and wet weather, but she also couldn't really take it home either. 

"I'll come visit soon… okay?" Sara turned to walk home only to be followed by a pattering of small feet. Looking below her was the fox, matching her motions and steps. 

Black eyes met blue-grey again. The fox nudged Sara forward with its snout, motioning for her to keep moving. 

"Um… You want to walk me home?" she questioned. Her question was responded with a happy 'yip' and the fox running a happy circle around her feet. "Alright then…"

And so, the odd duo went on their way following the winding paths toward home. 

\------

Unbeknownst to Sara, two individuals had heard her that afternoon.   
A tall blonde walking past the large entrance tori gate had heard light fairy-like giggling emanating from the shrine beyond. Curious about the source of the sound, but in a rush to get to their destination, the sound left as something to investigate another day.   
The other, an individual with red eyes watched curiously as the young silver-ette walked down the main stree of the central shopping district in the company of her guardian fox.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter, since it's a bit of a 'filler' day - sorry! 
> 
> Much thanks to the people who have left kudos or been reading this - it's encouraged me to write a bit faster ahaha
> 
> I've been sticking to an update every two days or so just so I can write ahead and figure out how I'll slightly diverge from canon storylines with Sara now in the mix. But since this one was a little shorter, I've updated earlier.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another death in the town sends the town into full-blown gossip mode.   
> Sara worries for what the remainder of her time in Inaba will be like.   
> Nanako and Sara bring a new friend home.

#### April 15, 2011

##### Dojima Residence, Early Morning

"Yu?" came Sara's whisper as she softly made her way into her brother's room, "Are you feeling better this morning? Nanako and Oji-san told me you were feeling sick last night…. I made you some rice porridge for you to eat before you head to school" 

"Oji-san has to hurry to work, so he's leaving now… " she continued, "I'm going to walk to school with Nanako, so I'll see you later, okay?"

Yū nodded in thanks. 

\-----

##### Morning

Leaving the house with Nanako today felt different than yesterday Sara noted. The rain felt… heavy. And the smell of the rain… less sweet. She wondered if it was perhaps due to her worry for her brother, and nothing more worrying than that. 

After dropping off her younger cousin, Sara continued walking to high school. Along the way she caught wind of gossip from the students around her.

_When I looked, I saw three police cars zooming by._   
_You live by the police station, don’t you? Did you hear anything?_   
_I heard some yelling, but nothing more. Total disappointment._   
_Geez, you need to pay more attention to stuff like that. How else are we supposed to get the juicy stories?_

Sara mulled over what she heard and was left to speculate if something bad had happened again… but continued her brisk walk to school before she was late. 

\-----

##### Afternoon

All the students of Yasogami High were gathered in the school hall for an emergency assembly. Sara was certain by now that something bad had happened. If not for the many coincidences and the whispers of students, then due to the twisting and turning of her gut. 

_Hey… Did you see it yesterday?_   
_Of course not... What, is that rumor for real?_   
_I dunno, but it seems like a lot of people have seen it._

'Of course students are still gossiping' thought Sara, rolling her eyes at their immaturity. The students were quickly quieted by the teachers shushing to settle the students for the principal's address. 

The old bearded principal walked slowly and carefully up the rickety wooden steps to the stage to address the students. He announced that a third year student, Saki Konishi had passed away and that her passing is being investigated by police. But weirdly he seemed to care more about potential rumours of bullying being the driving factor behind her death and warned students to not say anything about bullying to the police. 

Shock and horror ran through Sara's body. 'Saki Konishi' that was the name that was being gossiped about yesterday… she was the one who apparently found the body of the TV reporter. 'That can't be a coincidence' thought Sara worriedly, her grey eyebrows pinched as her brow furrowed, 'But I'm sure the police are handling it… Oji-san is smart he'll solve it in no time'. 

Looking over to the second-year cohort, she attempted to make eye contact with her brother, grey meeting blue-grey. She could see Yū looking concerned and his friends next to him looked distraught… maybe they knew her? Sara's chest felt like lead - it was feeling of dread, as if things were only going to get worse from this point on. 

_She died the same way as that announcer, right? That’s so creepy…_   
_Well, last time, it was from an antenna, but this time she was hanging from a telephone pole. It’s gotta be a serial murder case…_   
_Someone said the cause of death was some unknown poison._   
_Unknown…? C’mon, this isn’t some sci-fi drama. Oh, by the way, did you hear? Someone saw a girl that looked like Saki on that Midnight Channel thingie. They said she totally looked like she was in pain. Isn’t that scary?_   
_Haha, sounds like someone had a nightmare. The media’s been broadcasting their interviews with her nonstop, so maybe they just had Saki on the brain._

Once the assembly had finished the students were allowed leave the school ground to go home so Sara looked for Yū, wondering if he was going to go straight home like she was. She walked up to the second floor of the classroom building, but not spotting him in his classroom she backtracked to the first floor, where in a different stairwell she spotted her fellow silver-ette with his friends. 

"Yū! I'm going to go pick up Nanako and go home." said Sara, "I feel unsettled now that there's been a second incident so close to the first… so I'm not sure what you plan on doing after school… but stay safe, okay?". She smiled weakly before walking off to the primary school whilst shooting off a message to her uncle letting him know she'll pick up Nanako and not to worry. 

\-----

##### After School

The heightened feel of anxiety had spread throughout the town and to Sara it felt eerie to walk through the streets of Inaba. Nanako's little hand was gripped tightly in Sara's as they power walked home in the heavy rain. The familiar warmth of each other's hand brought comfort to Sara as both girls were lost in thought as they walked, shoes splashing in the puddles collected on the road.

*Yip*

A familiar sound resonated in the street, breaking Sara out of her funk. Nanako also looked up at the strange sound. 

On the corner of the street sat a familiar scarred fox with her red frilled apron. Upon seeing her newly made friend, Sara felt almost immediately feel better knowing someone was looking out for them. 

"Hey there, buddy… You come to look out for us on our way back" asked Sara gently, walking over to give the fox a warm head rub. To which she received another 'yip' and cute tail wag. 

"Sara-nee…?" questioned Nanako hestitantly, unsure of what she was watching occur. 

"Ah, Nanako! This is my new friend. I- uh… met her yesterday at the shrine in the central shopping district"

"Oh, cool…" replied Nanako, still dumbstruck. "Can.. Can I give her a head rub too?" 

"I think she'll like that" 

Nanako reached out just like her older cousin had and the fox pushed its head into the smaller hand, enjoying the attention and scritches it received. The tension of the afternoon seemed to dissipate with Nanako's little giggles as she and the fox clearly enjoyed the company of one another. 

Sara glanced back up to the sky, taking note that they would probably not see any chance of the rain letting up anytime soon. 

"Hey," she said, addressing the fox, " Do you want to come home with us? Just until the rain stops?" 

The fox and the silver-ette made eye contact once again, somehow understanding one another through that one look. Sara received a serious look, a nod and then a toothy smile from the fox. 

"Alright, let's go Nanako, Fox." announced Sara. 

Nanako stood back up from her crouching position and took her cousin's hand back in hers all whilst awkwardly trying to use her umbrella to also cover the fox as they walked back home. 

\-----

##### Dojima Residence, Evening

Immediately after having arrived home, Sara forced Nanako take a warm to prevent her from getting sick from being in the cold rain. As Nanako took her bath, Sara found some old towels to dry off their new bushy friend, the fox. She brushed through its fluffy coat with the towel in hand, taking care when touching areas around its scars. 

"Alright, here we are - you're pretty much all dry" said Sara, talking to the clearly intelligent fox. "Now do you want something to eat?"

*Yip*

"Okay, okay… I'm going to start cooking chicken soup for dinner and you can have some of the chicken scraps okay?" 

*Yip*

Sara laughed at the fox responding to her questions, and finishing off by telling it to make itself at home but to try and stay off the couch. Quickly after that the fox scampered around sniffing the room curiously, poking its nose into different nooks and crannies, enjoying the new sights and smells. 

Once Nanako had finished her bath, she had offered to take care of looking after the simmering soup so that Sara could also take a bath to warm up too. A bath was just what she needed after today. 

Before walking upstairs to take her bath, Sara looked at the fox. "Hey, how about we wash that apron of yours? And then I can mend it?". In response Sara got a kind head-butt and a couple purrs. 

Smiling Sara untied the small red frilly apron and took it with her upstairs to give it a good wash, leaving it to dry on the radiator whilst she bathed away the worries of the day. 

\------

After dinner, Sara and Nanako sat at the tea table in the living room with the TV on. Nanako had a juice box out while her older cousin enjoyed a warm cup of tea. 

Sara worked on sowing up the fox's apron mindlessly listening to whatever Nanako had put on the TV. The fox that had come home with them lay across Nanako's lap, enjoying her little fingers running calmly through its fur after having a big meal of chicken. 

It was then that Sara's flip phone buzzed. She had received a text message from Yū saying that he was sorry that he was late but he was on his way back after having dinner with his friends. Sara gave a sigh of relief. After having not heard from him for the past few hours, her worry was beginning to spike yet again. 

She looked down at the red apron in her hands, appraising the patchwork job she had done for the fox. 

"Hey, it's done" 

The fox lifted its head lazily with one eye open to peer at Sara's handiwork. It's single black eye appearing to be pleased with the job Sara had done. The dirt and grime had been thoroughly washed out and the tears in the fabric cleanly patched to the point where the whole apron looked completely new. 

Shuffling around the table Sara carefully tied the apron around the neck of the fox. Pleased with how the fox looked, she gave it a couple scritches under its snout, enjoying the pleased purrs she received from the orange ball of fur. 

Soon after, Yū arrived home. As soon as he walked through the door the fox darted through the curtains behind Nanako and out through the crack they had left in the doors. 

"Welcome home Yū!" said Sara and Nanako monotonously, both tired after the day they had and sad that he had scared away the fox. 

He too grabbed a cup of tea and sat at the tea table. The news flickered on. The segment continued talking about Saki Konishi's death and delved into the emerging mysteries of the case. As Nanako began to look worried again at the news segment, most likely about her father being on the case, Sara rubbed her back to soothe her. 

Yū looked over at the youngest cousin, consoling her "We'll be here with you, don't worry." He receieved a small grateful smile back. 

The news segment continued on moving on from the mysterious deaths to play an interview Yukiko, Yū's classmate and new friend. Sara felt chills, but not the good kind, go down her spine listening to the creepy words of the TV reporter. 

Stepping away from the awkward news segment, Sara and Nanako went to clean up the last couple things and lock up the house before they headed to bed. Letting Nanako go get ready for bed first, Sara finished up the cleaning. As she turned around to see if she had forgotten anything she watched as Yū stared, unblinking for several minutes at the calendar on the wall.

"Yū?" she questioned, not getting a response. Weird, she thought. Maybe he had a long day and he was just spacing out…?

After a few more minutes Yū blinked and then went up to his room. 

Sara didn't know what to make of her brother… he was getting stranger by the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another shorter chapter, because I planned on keeping Sara oblivious to the TV-world and personas for a little while longer. 
> 
> It also just makes it a little easier for me on how much I'm writing since I expect I'll go a bit overboard on descriptions once she does become integrated at some point in the future. 
> 
> For those wondering why a fox might be purring, I suggest you looking up what a fox sounds like (a real fox and not the song some of you might be thinking of 😡) - because it's a super weird between a dog and cat? I've seen and touched foxes in real life and it's still hard to describe. 
> 
> Thanks again to those reading this! :)


	6. In which Yū watches 'TV' at Midnight  and Sara makes a Human Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the title about sums it up

#### April 16, 2011

##### Yaogami High School

School felt like groundhog day to Sara. The same old boring day more or less on repeat. Wake up, walk to school, listen to teachers, write notes, eat lunch, learn some more and then school is over. See? Same old day, except for maybe some differences in content she was learning. 

Sitting in the classroom at lunchtime was a lonely affair. Sara was at her desk watching the clouds roll by, slowly chewing on her lunch, deep in contemplation. She had briefly thought about joining a club at school to hopefully find some friends and something more interesting to do during her year in Inaba. But she thought she had overhead some of the other students mentioning sign ups didn't start up for another week or so? No matter, she'd get around to it eventually. 

Sara's eyes stayed trained on world outside the window but briefly refocused them on the reflection in the glass. She scrutinised her appearance, her wavy silver locks, the way her hairclips matched her blue-grey eyes, her resting bitch face. Oh - maybe that was it. Perhaps it was how she appeared to the rest of her classmates that kept them from talking to her properly. 

Shaking herself out of that particular train of thought, she continued reflecting. Maybe… just maybe she should actually make an effort to introduce herself to some people? The very notion of having to talk to potentially many new people made Sara's stomach jump into her chest. She wished that she could be as charismatic and personable as her older brother. 

*THUMP* 

The loud noise brought the silver-ette back to the present. All eyes in the classroom were turned to the source of the noise. A girl - her classmate? With short green hair and grey eyes had toppled over what used to be a upright standing trombone case at the back of the classroom. The poor girl flushed as red as a tomato and floundered at the attention placed on her. "A-ah.. S-sorry!!" the girl exclaimed, bowing to her fellow students for the disruption she had caused. 

Sara felt bad for the poor girl. The old trombone case looked as tall as the girl herself, and she seemed as shy as Sara was. 'Hmmmm…' thought Sara, 'Maybe I should see if she's okay?'. 

The students of the classroom returned back to what they had been doing, now ignoring the trombone student. Sara made a decision. She got out of her seat and padded over to the girl who was checking the state of her trombone. 

"Um… hey?" started Sara, "Is your trombone alright?" 

"Oh - um… Narukami-san, right? Um… yes. It looks like the case did it's job of protecting it"

"That's good… um… Sorry I'm not very good with names… but you're my classmate right?" 

"It's Ayane Matsunaga… Ayane is fine though…"

Sara felt bad for not knowing Ayane's name, but felt worse with how awkward the conversation seemed to be. "Um, Ayane-san…" she trialled off, "Do you… do you want to sit with me during lunch…?"

Ayane looked confused for a moment. "Me?"

"Sorry I'm not good with meeting new people… But I get really nervous talking to new people…"

Sara's admission was met with a look of relief from Ayane. "Ah - me too! I was so worried I was the only one…" 

The two girls smiled feeling a kinship with one another, finding comfort in the knowledge that both of them had been as nervous as the other making friends in their first year of high school.

"Ah - Ayane-san, you can come sit at my desk. It's right by the window." 

"Thank you Narukami-san"

Sara shook her head, asking Ayane to instead call her by her first name to prevent confusion with her brother. Conversation between the two girls flowed relatively easily as they both shared their lunches and school experiences with one another. Sara was pleased that she was able to make one friend that day, making that one step closer to having friend _s_. She hoped that this new friendship meant that school from this point on would be just a smidge easier and little more fun. With just the knowledge that she now had a friend at school made her feel more comfortable with what the year ahead held for her. 

\-----

##### Dojima Residence, Evening

Sara and her younger cousin Nanako had bought sushi boxes to share for dinner that night. Dinner unfortunately was a quiet affair with Yū coming home late after hanging out with his friends and Dojima being held back at work due to the two past murders being linked. 

The two girls spent some precious time together recounting how their day had gone and taking comfort in each other's company. Sara joined Nanko in watching her favourite quiz show before heading to bed. 

At midnight Sara woke to the sound of rain pattering against the glass of her shared window. Her throat felt dry so she quietly rose from her futon and walked downstairs to get water from the kitchen. Once her thirst was quenched she fumbled her way through the dark back up the stairs. As she walked past Yū's room she thought she heard the sound of the TV show. What was her brother doing watching TV at this time of night?

Pressing her ear to the closed solid wood door she could just barely make out some words coming from whatever it was that was playing on the TV.

'…big surprise! ....prince charming…. lacy unmentionables… harem…'

Sara flushed not expected to what she was hearing. What exactly _was_ Yū watching? Whatever it was, it didn't sound very…. PG.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, a bit of filler but trying to establish some character friendships/relationships


	7. Sundays are not  fun days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara gets bored, Yū gets arrested.

#### April 17, 2011

##### Dojima Residence

Sunday showed a stark difference in weather compared to the previous couple of rainy days. The sun shone down on Sara and Nanako as they took advantage of the heat to do the laundry and air out the house for once. Whilst completing their monotonous task Sara realised that without school, there wasn't all that much to do. But she did admit the weather was nice and it might be nice to take advantage of that. 

Yū was noticeably missing from the house today as he had gone off gallivanting with Yosuke today. Sara couldn't help but wonder what kind of antics Yū was getting up to. She hoped he wasn't doing anything bad… but at the same time, Yosuke seemed like the sort to get into some misunderstandings with people. 

Just as that thought had trailed off Sara's phone on the tea table started vibrating. The little pale blue flip phone shook against the stained wood and rang loudly indicating an incoming call. She grabbed her phone off the table, first glancing at the number calling. Whoever it was, she didn't have them in her contacts. 

"Moshi moshi, Sara Narukami speaking."

"Ah Sara, it's your uncle."

"Is something wrong Oji-san?"

"Can you come meet me at the police station to pick up your brother? I don't want him getting into more trouble on the way home"

"P-police station?!?" gasped Sara in shock, "Why is he there? What happened?"

"I'll explain when you get here, I'm on my way to stop the situation from getting worse"

"I'll be there in 10 minutes." Sara ended the call. 

She quickly gathered her things - phone, keys, bag, wallet, before turning to Nanko who was watching worriedly.

"Nanako, that was your Dad…. I have to go to the police station, my idiot brother has gotten himself into trouble apparently. I'll be back soon."

Sara got a small 'okay' from Nanako as she walked out the front door and jogged down the street, wondering what exactly Yū had gotten himself into.

\-----

##### Inaba Police Station, Afternoon

The automatic sliding doors of the police whooshed open as Sara strode into the foyer, looking around worriedly for her uncle and brother. 

"Miss?" questioned the receptionist, "Are you okay?"

"I'm- um… looking for my uncle and brother." she puffed out "My uncle is Ryotaro Dojima? He called me to meet him here and said something about picking up my brother who's in trouble?" 

"Ah - Narukami-san, yes, Dojima-san said you'd be coming. Please just follow this hallway he's waiting for you along there"

Sara quickly thanked the receptionist and turned to walk down the hallway that was pointed out to her. Spotting her uncle, she was rapidly filled into the situation. Yū and Yosuke had apparently been taken to the police station because they resisted a police officer and had been looking suspicious around Junes with weapons that were later confirmed to be nothing more than realistic models of the real thing. Dojima had thankfully been in the precinct at the time they were brought in and was able to sort out the big misunderstanding. 

"Sara, you're responsible, can you please make sure that your brother and his idiotic friend don't try to do anymore stupid stunts today?" requested Dojima. 

She nodded, relating that she'd try her best… but her brother was not someone who usually listened to her. 

Yū and Yosuke emerged from a room in the hallway. Sara was able to peek in as the door swung behind them. It looked like it was an interrogation room. 

Sara and her uncle looked at the two boys who had their heads bowed in shame. Dojima gave them a hard stare before digging into them. "…You didn’t seem the type to pull a stupid stunt like this. You know what’s been some on around town. We got men stationed everywhere. For god’s sake… You’re lucky I was around, or this would have ended up on your permanent record."

Yosuke apologised meekly and Yū did actually look somewhat apologetic. 

The three highschoolers' ears perked up when they heard some police officers talking in passing.

 _Wait, so the one that disappeared is the Amagi girl…?_  
 _Seems like it… But she’s Just a high schooler, you know. Could be that she decided to run away from home…_

Wait… Amagi…? As in Yukiko? Sara's brow furrowed in worry and confusion - what was going on?. Her brother and Yosuke seemed worried hearing that as well. 

Dojima continued his lecture, "I’m sure you’ve seen on the news that there’s an investigation in progress… We’re sensitive about certain things. You're free to go. But this better not happen again."

With his lecture finished, her uncle stalked off to go back to work. Sara turned to Yū and Yosuke to try question them on what they were thinking but they seemed to be having a whispered conversation. Then, the young detective they had seen the other day throwing up turned down the hallway. Yosuke started questioning him on what was happening with Yukiko and if something really did happen to her. 

Sara listened to the conversation earnestly. Apparently Yukiko had gone missing. Her parents couldn't find her and called the police about it. Then Adachi rambled on a bit about the case, or what he claimed might not be a case yet? He really shouldn't be talking about what should be confidential details of a case with high schoolers, thought Sara. And it seemed like her uncle thought so too - as he yelled at Adachi to stop spilling all the details and get him his coffee. 

The three high schoolers walked down the hallway and got back to the foyer of the police station, only to see Chie was standing there waiting for them, or rather, the two boys, looking stressed and upset. 

Yū then turned to his sister, "You can go home first. I'm going to go spend some time with Chie and Yosuke, okay?" Before she could even reply or question what was going on he stalked off with his friends. Sara stood confused as to what was going on, but was left by herself to wonder what it was her brother was getting involved in. She hoped they were just hanging out like normal teens and not getting into more trouble. 

\-----

##### Dojima Residence, Evening

Dojima had picked up dinner on the way home that night as a treat to make up for the long week they all had. Yū, had thankfully not gotten up to any more trouble that day and returned home in time to have dinner with the rest of the Dojima household who were sat at the tea table in the living room, watching the news segment yet again. 

After today's escapades, Dojima questioned Yū on what happened earlier at the station, asking if there was something else that he wasn't being told. Sara silently wondered the same thing. 

"What’s wrong? Are you fighting?" questioned Nanko, concerned over the growing tension in the room. 

The two boys denied it and the tension dissipated. The younger Dojima reprimanded her father's initial interrogation by mentioning that the house wasn't the police station. 

The conversation diverged as the weather forecast popped onto the television. Apparently the next week would be nice and sunny. Nanko cutely but naively questioned if the weather forecaster was the one who decides the weather. Sara giggled at her younger cousin's innocent question whilst her uncle sat unsure how to answer.


	8. Surviving School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update - so make sure you also have a geeze at chapter 7.

Sara finally felt like she had a bit of a routine going, and therefore more stability in her new life in Inaba. School aside, Mondays would be for studying and getting ahead for the week. Tuesdays were for grocery shopping and stocking up on supplies with Nanako. When she finally got around to joining it, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons would be for sewing club, if she felt like going, and on the way back home she could drop by the shrine to see the fox if she was around. That left Fridays and Saturdays free to work a part-time job if she felt like it. 

Sunday was her rest day. She didn't have to attend school, clubs, or even study. If she really wanted to she could spend time with friends or classmates. But Nanako for now seemed like good company, plus with her father gone so often nowadays and recent murders and kidnapping, she didn't leave home too often without Yū or Nanako being there with her. 

Whilst her afternoons were busy, the evenings were surprisingly relaxing. If she wasn't cooking dinner with Nanako the two girls would enjoy the shows that Nanako was fond of. Some of the questions on the quiz show were surprisingly tricky, even for a 15 year old high schooler. 

Every so often Sara would also try to talk to her uncle - that is, if was around to spend time with. Talking was awkward at first. He seemed like he felt uncomfortable talking with a teenage girl and didn't really know what to say or talk about. But once the two of them got onto the topic of coffee, things seemed to go onto the right track. Dojima appeared grateful for Sara's help in the short time she'd spent with them thus far. Nanako was a little more relaxed at home and the homecooked meals and packed lunches were a huge plus. 

On the schooling side of things, Sara felt like she was getting to know Ayane a little better, and the blossoming relationship between the two girls started to bring the two of them out of their shells. Ayane had thankfully been able to exchange seats with another student so that the two of them could sit next to each other in class - which was way easier than trying to pass notes under the watchful eyes of their teachers. Jokes were cracked, gossip was passed and class had felt more fun than it had been in ages. The two friends had even exchanged contact details so that they could call each other occasionally at night and to have long deep and meaningful conversations. 

It was Ayane's love of music that really pushed Sara to finally getting around to joining the sewing club. The club ran on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons and provided students the use of equipment and limited materials one might need to work on a selected project. There was even the opportunity to showcase your work towards the end of the year at the school cultural festival. The person who was voted by popular vote to be the best work would go on to earn a selection of materials and supplies from Tatsumi Textiles. The showcase was apparently highly competitive at Yasogami High. 

Whilst Sara's settling into Inaba seemed to go smoothly, she couldn't necessarily say the same about her older brother. Yū, now that he had his friends from his class, Chie and Yosuke, seemed to get up to all sorts of unknown mischief. 

She'd seen her brother hoard cans of soft drink in his room alongside something that looked like a katana? She really didn't want to know what he was up to, but as long as he hadn't joined that biker gang that Ayane and Tatsumi-san had told her to be mindful of, or any other sort of dangerous group, she was sure he'd be fine. 

The only other piece of new concerning behaviour was Yū's weird blank staring. Sometimes Sara would see him staring emptily into the corner of his classroom, or more recently, a blank wall next to the metalworks shop in the central shopping district. She really didn't know what to make of that one - but she could only hope it wasn't a drug problem. Sure, Inaba was a bit boring… but drugs wasn't going to make it any better or worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight time skip chapter since Sara's not directly involved in the canon story line yet. But makes it easier on my part to write out a general chunk instead of day by day (which can be a little boring). 
> 
> Can promise that the next chapters will be longer, this is just me stalling for time so I can write, somewhat proof-read them and add in any extra detail from either the game or animation.
> 
> I had a bit of fun thinking about how weird some of the things you do in-game would look in real life :)   
> Have a good weekend y'all


	9. Sewing Club

#### April 21, 2011

##### Yasogami High, Afternoon

Today was _the_ day. Why, you may ask? Well, today was _the_ day that clubs had reopened their doors to students, and Sara was determined to enjoy sewing club and hopefully, find some new friends. 

After school had ended for the day Sara walked with Ayane to the practice building. Whilst music club didn't officially start up for another five days, Ayane wanted to get ahead on printing music and sheets to help with a smooth start to the return to symphonic band. 

The practice building had two floors entirely dedicated to the practical components of school life. It had almost everything any student would need to hone their craft, whether it be in the creative or performing arts, or sciences . Both floors had a mix of classrooms and special rooms for teaching. The upper floor primarily had classrooms, including those used for English, Art, Biology and Sociology. The lower floor had more of the specialised rooms, such as the science laboratory, the sewing room, home economics room and music room. 

The first floor hallway was rich with _interesting smells_. Walking to the left, you would be bombarded with the delicious smells of fresh food being cooked in the home economics room, but if you walked to the right, you might smell something more peculiar, whether it be the sweet smell of nitroglycerin or the rotten egg smell of sulphur. 

Upon entering the hallway of the first floor, Sara could hear the chattering of students and the clattering of rooms being set up for club activities to begin. The sewing room was to the left and so was the music room. Stopping to the side of the doorway Sara parted ways with Ayane and mentally prepared to interact with her club mates and senpais-to-be. 

With a deep breath Sara entered the sewing club room. The room had wide windows that spanned the sides of the classroom to let natural light in. Along the edges were sewing and overlocking machines, each paired with a small rack of spools which had various coloured threads wrapped tightly around it. The cupboards were a huge mess of fabrics and offcuts. The upper shelves had either carefully folded stacks of fabric or precariously balanced bolts which protruded from the wooden structure. The lower shelves were no where nearly as organised as their upper counterparts. Wire baskets held onto the scrap fabric from previous students projects, hoping that one day they'd get their turn to be used in a patchwork project or even for sewing practice. 

"You must be Sara Narukami, right?" a cheerful voice greeted. 

Slightly startled by the immense amount of cheer emanating from the new person, Sara nodded dumbly. "Y-yes!" 

"Welcome! We're so happy for you to join us!" exclaimed the girl. 

"Uh - thank you? Sorry, you know my name, but I don't know yours…." Sara trailled off. 

"Oh - I'm Himari Suzuki, third-year student and president of the sewing club! Just call me Himari, though!"

Himari was a relatively average looking girl with black hair, brown eyes, but her overwhelmingly cheerful personality was what stood out. It gave Sara chills down her spine at the sheer amount of happiness that seemed to radiate from her new senpai. 

Giving a small bow, Sara thanked Himari for approving her application and commented that she was excited to start with the club. Immediately after, Sara was quickly introduced to the rest of the club members, given a short tour of the club facilities and a printed sheet outlining upcoming activities and events for the coming year. The club met three times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, but there was no real expectation for members to attend all three days - most came in if they wanted company while working on their own project, if they had need of club facilities or were attending a pre-organised tutorial or masterclass. 

It was only after the club members old and new had settled into their seats, did Sara come to the realise that the club was entirely composed of girls. At her old middle school in the city, there had always been a good mix of girls and boys in the club, each working on cool new fashion-forward projects which utilised the student's unique sense of style and technique.

A pang of longing hit her as Sara realised that she missed some aspects of her old life. Inaba was quaint, if not a bit backwards sometimes. But Sara supposed that the good part about being here was that she was able to reconnect with her uncle and cousin, which would not have happened if not for this year. 

Her train of thought was broken as the club members were broken up into groups to practice different foundational skills. She joined the embroidery group figuring that a bit of practice never hurt anyone. Each student in the group was provided an embroidery hoop, some needles, thread and fabric, alongside a laminated sheet detailing different stitches and how to do them. Sara grabbed a washable fabric pen from the depths of her bag and sketched out a basic flower collage design on her fabric, aiming to make the practice session worthwhile. She then got to work on the mini project, threading the needle and letting it sail through the fabric seamlessly. 

Lost in her work, she almost didn't catch onto the gossip that seeped from her fellow club member's mouths. 

_Hey, did you hear about the bike gangs recently?_  
_Yeah, aren't they super scary?_  
_Isn't that Tatsumi kid involved with them?_  
_Oh yeah, he's so scary looking don't you think?_  
_He looks like he could kill someone with a glare!_  
_Didn't you hear, he tried to join the sewing club but they rejected his registration form!_  
_Really?! What a weirdo!_  
_Yeah! That's super unmanly!_

Sara's lips pinched together into a frown at what she was hearing. Surely, whoever this person was, wasn't all that bad. It didn't sit well with her that they could make such bold conclusions about someone purely based on their appearance. But it was curious that they mentioned 'Tatsumi'. Sara wondered if it was Tatsumi-san's son that was mentioned in passing when she and Nanako visited last week… Which reminded her - didn't Tatsumi-san also talk about how there was a class every Monday night at Tatsumi Textiles?

Humming in thought, the time passed by quickly. Not much else of interest was said by the girls of the sewing club, just idle gossip about love lives and relationships, complaints about there being nothing to do and the amount of work one teacher or another had assigned them. By the end of club activities Sara had completed the sakura flower which was the primary focus of her design, and almost finished the small array of petite daisies and leaves that surrounded it.

The other girls started trickling out of the room to go home after club activities. Sara hung back in the room to let the others leave first, slowly packing her things into her bag and zipping it up. 

Just before she could leave Himari called out to her. "Wait, Narukami-san!" 

Sara turned to look at her upperclassman, arching an eyebrow. 

"Narukami-san -" 

"Just Sara.. You'll confuse me with my brother otherwise"

"Uh, Sara. How did you find everything? Make any new friends?"

Sara paused to choose her words carefully, biting her tongue to swallowi her initial discomfort upon hearing the gossip being passed around. Even though it felt as if coals were being shoved down their throat, she needed to make an effort to not offend her senpai. "I'm sure I'll make some friends in the coming weeks Himari-senpai!" She plastered over her lie with a grin on her face. 

"I'm sure you will! I'm rooting for you!" cheered Himari, not noticing how fast the grin had dropped from her underclassman's face.

\----

##### Dojima Residence, Evening

"I'm home!" called out Sara.

"Welcome home, Sara-nee!" cheered Nanako in response, getting up from her position in front of the TV to greet her older cousin.

"Haha! Hey Nanako! How was school? Did you learn anything fun?"

"It was so boring today! 'Cos of the rain we even had to spend lunch indoors!"

The two cousins chatted about their day around the living room tea table, Nanako bringing up how Sara had mentioned joining a club that morning and asking how it went.

"Well, it was okay" 

"Only okay? Did something happen?" Nanako looked concerned. 

Sara patted Nanako's hair softly. "No, just a long day." she said, unsure if she was lying to herself or Nanako. The afternoon had indeed been long,

"Did you make any new friends?" 

"I'm getting there" Sara chuckled at her younger cousin's fretting, "I'm sure the right person is right around the corner."

Nanako's frown melted away in relief, but worry for her cousin glistened in her eyes, "Okay…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took some liberties with the timing of things (when certain characters turn up etc.)
> 
> This chapter took a while to write. I had originally planned to make Sara a lot more combative after hearing the rumours, but it didn't quite fit the progression of things (yet). 
> 
> I think what I'm finding most difficult at the moment is how to strike a good balance between in-game/canon details and what I'm happy to alter for the progression of this work with Sara in the mix. I spend a good chunk of time in-between writing and double checking details from the game and animation because I have a huge amount of respect for the original work, and really don't want to do it disservice.


	10. Back to Tatsumi's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara meets another classmate and decides to go to a crafting class at Tatsumi Textiles.

#### April 25, 2011

##### Morning

Another Monday, another week at school. Sara blearily rubbed her eyes trying to force her body to wake up as she made the walk to school. The weekend had been interesting to say the least. Yū had apparently joined the school basketball team and had been invited to go hangout with his new teammates at Okina city, apparently it was pretty popular to go since it was the closest big city to Inaba. Sara took note in case maybe she and Ayane wanted to spend some time shopping or catching a movie. 

As per her usual morning routine, Sara and Nanako had teamed up to make everyone a bento to take for lunch. They would leave the house together so that Sara could first walk Nanako and then herself to school.

The cloudy morning made Sara's sleepiness worse, because there was no bright sunlight to burn her eyes and shock her into feeling awake. Her steps felt heavy as she continued her walk up the hill and through the school gates. Relief flooding her body as she saw the familiar classroom all in close reach. 

"Good Mornin' Sara!" cheered Ayane, greeting the sleepy silver-ette as she entered the classroom. 

"Hey Ayane…" Sara mumbled, still not fully awake. 

"Still sleepy?" 

"Mmmhmmm"

"Why don't you sleep until class starts and I'll wake you up?" Ayane kindly offered, to which Sara was more than happy to take her up on. 

\-----

Sara's dreams were weird to say the very least. She thought she seen her brother in a blue room with a suited man who had an abnormally long nose. They were saying something about shadows and true selves? How strange. 

"Sa--"

A voice was calling out to her. Her shoulder felt warm. A hand? Wait, everything was shaking. Why?

"Sara!" 

Was that Ayane? What was she doing in her dream?

"Wake up!"

Oh she was asleep… So this was all a dream, that explains it. This was all a product of her late night reading and vivid imagination. 

"Class is about to start! C'mon!"

Sara cracked open an eye, letting it adjust to the change in lighting before opening another. Her neck stretched painfully as she lifted her upper body from her uncomfortable position hunched over her desk. 

"Mmmm… Thanks Ayane." she grumbled, sleep still in her eyes and making her voice sound slightly husky.

"Do you feel better now" Ayane whispered, as the teacher walked through the door, readying the homeroom announcements. 

"Yeah, thanks - I really owe you one." Her friend nodded mindfully, keeping half her attention on Sara and the other half on the announcement that the teacher was giving.

##### Yasogami High School, Midday

The school day had run like every other school day. Homeroom, Maths, English. What had made it strange however, was the midday interruption. Ms Sofue had interrupted their English lesson with an extra announcement - something about a student who had been skipping classes and been let off with one warning so far. His name was Kanji? 

Sara wracked her brain, trying to think of his last name… Tatoonie? Tatsuki? ….It was Tatsumi, like Tatsumi-san! He was a tall boy, with bleached blonde hair, piercings and wore the school uniform jacket like a cape. The class watched the boy wearily, as waves of irritation rolled off him.

He had been assigned the last empty desk in the room. But the only empty desk had been the one in front of her and this lead to a big problem…. Sara was about 158 centimetres tall (5'2"), and Kanji was at least 180 cm… so just under a whole _two feet_ taller than her. 

Mr Kondo, their English teacher was writing something up on the board. Sara craned her neck to see what was being written up, but still all she could see was the black of Kanji's uniform jacket and his bleached blonde hair. From this angle, she could appreciate his many piercings, but she did have to question why people needed to grow so tall… Or rather, why did she was so short. 

Thinking up a solution, she tapped politely on Kanji's shoulder. "Um, excuse me Tatsumi-san?" 

"What?" came the gruff answer, his eyebrows pinched in a scowl.

"Is it possible for you to hunch a bit lower? I can't see the board…" Sara asked sheepishly, her cheeks flushing slightly in embarrassment. 

"Uh…" Kanji eyebrows rose in surprise at the question. 

"Oh… I'm sorry. I- it's okay! I can cope if it's too much to ask…"

"Wait - no! 'Yer okay. It's just… I'm already a bit too cramped in this spot." Kanji looked uncomfortable enough as it was, squished up against the wall due to him being assigned the desk next to the wall. 

"W-what are you taking about with Tatsumi-san?" whispered Ayane to Sara. 

"I can't see the board Ayane!" huffed Sara, even more embarrassed now that someone else was involved, "and Tatsumi-san is so squished he can't hunch lower so I can see!" 

Ayane snorted at her friend's plight, "Why don't you ask if you can change seats?" 

"But I don't want to sit with someone I don't know!" objected Sara. 

"Oi! Narukami, Matsunaga, what're you two whispering about back there? English, I hope!" interjected Mr Kondo.

Surprisingly it was Ayane who replied to him, "Mr Kondo, could I switch seats with Tatsumi-san? Sara can't see the board properly and Tatsumi-san isn't comfortable with the small desk space he was assigned" 

"Yeah, yeah do whatever you want, as long as you're able to better listen to my lesson, we're all good!" 

Ayane and Kanji quietly shuffled around their things, moving their bags, stationery and books to their new desks. Sara tried her best to help the two, whispering a soft 'thank you' to her friend who had singlehandedly solved the problem of the day. 

From that point onwards, the lessons ran without a hitch. 

\-----

##### Yasogami High School, Afternoon

As the school day came to a close, Ayane had to run off to music practice and Sara felt that she should say something to her new desk mate before they left school for the day. 

"Um, Tatsumi-san?" she asked as they both packed their bags.

"Yeah, what?" he gruffly answered. 

"You don't happen to be related to Sakura Tatsumi, do you?

"Yeah, what's it to you?"

His face was pinched into a scowl, his stance aggressive as if expecting a fight at any time. Sara could see why people thought him to be scary. But looking at him, she felt like she was seeing one of those angry looking street cats, who just needed a bit of love, care and attention before they let their walls down. 

"I visited your family's store two weeks ago… She mentioned you briefly, but I didn't realise you were in my class"

"Oh… uh" Kanji again, looked surprised and slightly dumbfounded. His features loosened from its pinched scowl.

Sara opened her mouth to continue the conversation, about to ask about the classes at Tatsumi Textiles, but both she and Kanji were distracted by the not-so-quiet whispers from the students around them.

_I heard that that scary biker gang kid is back!_  
_Really? I thought he was expelled!_  
_See, he's in that classroom_  
_He's a first year? But he's so scary looking!_  
_Look he's talking to the new girl, you reckon he's threatening her?_  
_Isn't she like, super popular amongst the guys, maybe she's turning him down?_  
_I would if I was her - he's way too scary and angry looking to be with a cute girl like her!_

With each whisper, Kanji's returned back into his deep scowl and it looked as if a vein were popping in his forehead. Sara's face flushed in embarrassment, both at what was being said and for Kanji's sake as well. 

"SHUT UP!" roared Kanji. The gossiping student gasping in shock, recoiling at the loud exclamation. "What're you twats looking at?! You wanna fight?!"

Taking up an aggressive stance, he reared up to his full height to intimidate the students filling both the classroom and hallway. Kanji then yelled out some more threats at the students before angrily stomping away out of the classroom and school. 

Sara stood in her spot, a little shocked at how fast the situation had turned itself on its head. Her initial question left unanswered. The rest of the students' attention now turned to her after Kanji's outburst. She couldn't wait to hear what other gossip would be passed around in the coming days (note the sarcasm).

With a sigh, she took that as a sign to go home and then after that to Tatsumi Textiles. 

\-----

##### Tatsumi Textiles, Evening

The door made of wood and paper slid gracefully open and Sara walked into the showroom of Tatsumi Textiles. 

"Ah, Narukami-san! Welcome back!" greeted Tatsumi-san cheerfully. 

Sara greeted the older warmly with a small bow. "Tatsumi-san! Thank you!" she started, "Are you having a class on, tonight, or have I gotten the day wrong?" 

"Yes, there's a class on tonight if you'd like to join? But it doesn't start for another hour or so…." Tatsumi-san told her before offering, "You're more than welcome to join me for some tea and snacks before it starts?"

"Um… only if I'm not intruding!"

Tatsumi-san waved off her concerns and continued by leading her into the back of the store and into the house beyond. 

"Make yourself at home! I'll quickly make the tea now."

Sara looked around the room that she had been lead to curiously. It looked like it was a living room, albeit more traditional than her own. The walls were made of shoji paper decorated with beautifully printed flower designs , and the floor lined with tatami mats. The furniture in the room was also of a more traditional design, with a low tea table at the centre of the room, and zabuton (cushions) at each edge, waiting for someone to sit upon its plushness. Along the edges of the room, Sara could see chigaidana (staggered built-in shelves) which were decorated with books and cute photos of Tatsumi-san's family. 

Upon closer inspection, Sara could see that a young Kanji was in these photos - although, without the bleached hair, piercings and scar on his head. She thought he was actually kinda cute - both in the older and newer photos. 

"Ah, you've found some of my family photos" commented Tatsumi-san, noticing that Sara was looking at them on the shelf. 

Sara floundered, embarrassed that she was caught snooping. She bowed apologising for her actions. 

Again, Tatsumi-san waved off her actions, "It's fine. I wouldn't have them on display if I didn't want visitors looking at them… So, Narukami-san, how are things now that you've settled in?"

"I'm still adjusting to country life… it's strange that it's so quiet at night and that you can actually see the stars at night! But um… To be honest I think I may have over-romanticised life out in the country…"

"How so?" Tatsumi-san prodded.

"I had this whole idea in my head that it would be so nice to live somewhere where everyone knows who you are, and you'd have this tight-knit sort of community" Tatsumi-san nodded along to Sara's confession. "Everyone at school has known each other from practically birth, they all have their own friend groups and usual hang out spots… and I'm not sure where I fit into all that."

"Well, Narukami-san, I'm sure it's just about finding the right person to help you fit in."

"But how do I know who that person is?" 

"You can never tell at the start, but you'll realise soon enough. Although… sometimes you need to let a few barriers down or take a leap to jumpstart those burgeoning friendships!"

Sara nodded along to the older woman's wise advice, her chest lighter now that she was able to admit some of the worries that had festered away inside her since moving to Inaba.

"Ah, but enough of your worries, let's talk about what you enjoy!"

The silver-ette was grateful for the change in topic, and the two continued chatting, bonding over their love of art and tea. Time flew by quickly as they enjoyed each other's company in the calm afternoon. 

But, the calmness was soon brought to an end by the slamming of a door. 

BANG

"OI, MA! I'm home!" yelled out a loud voice, only to be followed by heavy footsteps and the slam of the door being pulled shut.

"Ah, Kanji! Welcome home!" greeted Tatsumi-san cheerfully, ignoring the gruff aggressive actions made by her son. "Come join us in the living room!"

"Huh, us? Who'd you invite over this time Ma?" questioned Kanji, his voice getting closer with each step taken toward the living room. 

"It's just Narukami-san!" 

Sara saw Kanji's bleached blonde head craning through the living room door before the rest of his body moved into the room. He stood in the doorway tensely, at first guarded with the mention of a visitor in his home but relaxing into his typical lazy slouch upon seeing a familiar face. 

"Oh, hey - uh…" he trialled off, moving to sit down at the tea table. 

The silver-ette interjected quickly after hearing his hesitation, "Sara is fine."

"Oh, um. Same - uh! I mean, Kanji is fine too… Since we're desk mates and all that now…" floundered Kanji, the lightest blush heating his cheeks in embarrassment. 

Tatsumi-san smiled, "It's so good that you two know each other! You know Kanji, Narukami-san is going to join the textiles class we're running tonight! Isn't it nice that you'll have a familiar face in the class you're teaching?" 

Sara looked up at Kanji, surprised. "You're in charge of the class tonight, Kanji-kun?"

"Yeah?! What's it to you?" Kanji reared up as if expecting a fight, a scowl pinching his brow.

"Oh - uh um" Sara stammered, choosing her words carefully, "I- I was just surprised! I haven't seen you around the store before today…" She continued on, "but Tatsumi-san told me that you were the one who made all the cute soft toys on display in the store, so I'm sure that the class will be really good! Please look after me!". With each word her cheeks grew more red and puffed out, and her sentence came out more like a nervous ramble. Her head was also bowed slightly so that her silver side fringe flopped in front of her face like blinds to shield her embarrassment from the two Tatusmi's. Internally though, Sara felt like screaming 'Please don't hurt me!'. 

Kanji floundered, eyes wide with surprise at her cute ramble.

The tension of their conversation was broken by Tatsumi-san chortling at the two teenager's awkward conversation. "Ohohoho ~ Kanji, I'm sure Narukami-san will appreciate you looking after her during the class. You know…. she wouldn't stop talking about how cute and professionally made your soft toys were last week!" A teasing grin splashed across her wizened face. 

Both teens looked away, unable to face one another. Their embarrassment showing as hazy red and pinks adorned their hot cheeks. 

"Oh, well you look at the time!" exclaimed Sara, diverting the conversation, "Isn't the class supposed to start in 10 minutes?"

"Uhmm - yeah!", agreed Kanji readily, "I should go set up, shouldn't I, Ma?"

"Nonsense!" rebutted Tatsumi-san, "I'll go set up, and Kanji can stay here with you a little longer". Tatsumi-san's word were said with a flare of finality that neither Kanji nor Sara wanted to debate. Both teens watched as she left with a graceful 'swish' of her kimono. 

A moment of silence was had as the two desk mates internally debated what to say to each other. 

"So-" "You-" They spoke over one another. 

"Sorry, you go first." Sara deferred. 

"Oh right. Uh sorry about this afternoon… storming off 'n all that. Those idiots really pissed me off with all their gossipin' and shit." Kanji looked both apologetic and sheepish as he recounted his actions from earlier in the day. 

"It's okay! I probably would've done the same"

"No way! If you got all angry, you'd just look like an angry chipmunk and that's not scary at all!" laughed Kanji. 

"Hey!"

The two teens laughed heartily. Sara felt light, her heart full as she enjoyed Kanji's company. 

Once their laughter came to a comfortable close Sara continued speaking, "So, Kanji-kun, I feel bad for leaving all these things for your mother to clean," gesturing at the spread of teacups, plates of half-eaten snacks and the still warm teapot, "could you point me in the direction of your kitchen?"

"Hey, wait a minute! You're Ma's guest, so I'm not suppos'ta let you clean up, I'll do it." He moved to start clearing the table.

"Um, Kanji?" prodded Sara, "You know that there's way too much for one person to move in one go?" 

"Yeah, so?" 

"Can I at least help you _move_ some of these things into the kitchen? It'll make everything so much faster." Her grey-blue eyes were wide, pleading with the taller boy to let her help. 

"Urgh, fine! If Ma asks if I let you do any work, you betta say no, alright?!" 

Sara held her hands up in surrender, laughing at Kanji's statement before solemnly saying "I didn’t touch a single plate!"

True to her words, cleaning up was much faster with two people working in tandem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so Sara finally meets Kanji! And they're desk mates!
> 
> For clarification (in case anyone goes nuts on the super specifics), in-game, Kanji is said to be in class 1-3. But I've said previously that Sara was put in 1-1. Hence, they're both in 1-1 now. This serves a purpose later on in the scheme of things.


	11. The Curious Case of Kanji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Sara & Kanji interaction, general school shenanigans

#### April 26, 2011

##### Yasogami High School, Morning

Sara sat at her desk calmly watching the clouds out of the window, enjoying how the clouds looked as if they were part of a impressionist painting. The morning sun peeked through the dense cloud barrier, splashing colours of pink, yellow and gold amongst the fluffy white. She imagined the sound of one of Mozart's piano sonatas playing in the background, making the sight feel like a scene out of a movie. 

She could hear around her, the general buzz of school life, as students walked and talked in the classroom and through the hallway. She heard Kanji's familiar 'stompy' walk on the wooden classroom floorboards and then the scrape of his chair being pulled from its space under his newly assigned desk. 

"Mornin' Kanji-kun!" greeted Sara dreamily, eyes still pinned on the wondrous sight of the painted cloud cover.

"Hey." he grunted back, plopping back into his chair. 

"Thanks for last night by the way - I had loads of fun. Never really tried crocheting before." 

"Yeah? Come back anytime then. Yer company is better than the typical crowd." 

Sara laughed, a gentle close-eyed smile adorning her face as she shifting her attention from the clouds outside to her desk mate "I'm glad you think so!"

Both teens looked at ease. A moment of comfortable silence passed between the two. "So, uh… what'cha looking at?" questioned Kanji. 

"Mmmm… the clouds. You see, it looks like an impressionist painter has painted them into the sky." she nodded towards the window, Kanji's eyes following her movement. 

"Oh, yeah. That's kinda cool." 

"You ever try painting with watercolour?" asked Sara changing the topic, eyes glancing to the side where her new friend was sat. 

"Nah. You'd have'ta go ter Okina city to get any art supplies, so I neva put in the effort ter grab a set that I might not use." 

"Oh, that's fair… Hey, um, I'm gonna skip sewing club today to go to explore that lookout at the top of the hill and maybe do a bit of painting…. wanna come?" she offered, holding her breath, but hoping with all her might that he'd say yes. 

**BRRIIING**

Her hopes were dashed as the bell interrupted their conversation, followed by their homeroom teacher Ms Sofue who shortly made her way to the front of the room to make the daily announcements and start the first lesson of the day. 

\-----

##### Yasogami High School, Lunch

Half of the school day had passed by quickly. History and English were the two subjects allocated to that morning, and now it was time for lunch. Students began to mill around the school, finding their friend groups for some much needed reprieve from lessons and socialisation. 

Ayame and Sara stood chatting around the silver-ette's desk in the back corner of the classroom. Sara grinning after Ayane complimented her on her ability to answer the questions so confidently that morning. 

"Wow, Sara! I didn't know you were so good at History and English!"

Sara rubbed at her neck, grinning sheepishly. "Ah well, History was always my favourite - It's so fascinating!. But with my parents working overseas 'n all… my whole family picked up English." 

"That makes sense!" 

"You're really good at Maths thought Ayane! I don't understand how you find it all so easy! I bet it's that musical brain of yours that really helps… or…. is it the other way around…?" 

Sara was left to ponder on her self-imposed conundrum as Ayane tried not to laugh at her friend.

"Well, while you're thinking about that - where do you want to sit for lunch?" 

"Hmmm, well, I was thinking -" 

The girls' discussion was cut short with loud shouting from the hallway. It sounded like Kanji.

"HUH!? What'd you mean by that, ya punk? Are ya trying make me mad?"  
"N-nothing, I swear!?"  
"What'd you know about anything?! Ya wanna fight?! Is that it?!"   
"N-no! Really! I'm just repeating what I heard! Don't hurt me please!" 

The tall blonde was growling at a brown-haired student who cowered under the intensity of Kanji's angry glare. Kanji's hands were balled up in tight fists, his grip so tight the skin had turned white. Upon seeing that more students had congregated around the area of confrontation, Kanji's growls got louder. He turned to the surrounding students roaring, "This is between him and me! Scram!". 

Sara could feel Ayane's trembling form half hidden behind her, too scared to stand out in the open, but too curious to run away. Her heart beat quickly in her ears as she felt like she should do something. In that moment, Tatsumi-san's advice repeated themselves in her mind, 'Sometimes you need to let a few barriers down or take a leap to jumpstart those burgeoning friendships"'. 

She took a step towards the fight, and then another. She was stopped by Ayane's hand griping her sleeve tightly, she hissed, "Sara! What're you doing?! You might get hurt!". 

Sara calmly removed her friend's hand from her sleeve, "Something tells me that Kanji needs my help right now… I don't think anything bad will happen."

"Something? Wait - no! Sara!" 

The silver-ette had already left the classroom, and was wading through the crowd of students in the hallway who had stopped to watch the fight break out. The cowering student's words still fell onto Kanji's deaf ears, as he continued threatening bodily harm upon the poor brunette. 

When she had managed to push through the mass of bodies, Kanji had the front of the brunette's school shirt tightly gripped upward in his hand. Sara cleared her throat, before talking to the angry blonde. "Kanji-kun?"

"What?!" came the gruff, angry response. 

"I'm sure whatever he didn't wasn't worth getting beat up over." she continued calmly. 

Kanji growled, "You just wait to hear what shit he's been bitchin' about - you'd be mad too!"

"Why don't _you_ tell me over lunch? I made an extra bento to thank you for walking me home last night." 

Kanji's angry demeanour faltered, "W-what?". Even the brunette who had angered the blonde and was being held up by the front of his shirt looked confused as to what was going on. 

Sara ignored the looks and gently took his free hand (i.e. not the one holding the other boy upright) in hers, "C'mon Kanji! We've only got half of lunch period left!"

"Uh, okay?" blinked Kanji, dropping the boy onto the wooden floor of the hallway, and letting the little silver-ette lead him back into the classroom, the students who remained in the hallway parting like the red sea for the strange duo. The brunette who was almost beat to pulp gave a huge sigh of relief, thanking every deity out there for the silver-ette's divine intervention. 

Ayane sat atop her desk in the classroom, patiently waiting for her friend to return for lunch. 

"Sara! You're okay! You're not hurt are you?" 

"It's all good, just a small misunderstanding, right?" Sara looked at Kanji, expectant eyes flashing, telling him to reassure the smallest and shyest of the trio. 

"Y-yeah! That's right!" 

"Now, c'mon let's eat! I'm starving!" announced Sara, as the tension of the prior almost-fight gone from the minds of the very hungry students. "Here, Kanji-kun, I made this box for you!" 

Kanji was handed a black flat box with a marbled blue-grey lid. The colour somewhat reminded him of a certain silver-ette's eyes, the more that he stared at it. 

The two girls had already started digging into their food, both starving after the gruelling school morning. 

"Aren't you going to eat Tatsumi-san?" questioned Ayane politely, seeing him stare at the box handed to him. 

He quickly fumbled with the lid, opening up the box to reveal the delicious treasures hidden inside - golden strips of crispy chicken katsu lay atop a blanket of fluffy white rice mixed with furikake. Strips of nori were stuck to the remaining bare area of rice, they were delicately cut into words spelling out 'Thank you!". To the side of the box sat a colourful salad of green leaves, corn and tiny halves of cherry tomatoes, a small bottle of tonkatsu sauce and a little sauce tub of mayonnaise were also thoughtfully laid to the side, ready for the consumer to add to their meal. 

"This… this is way too much!" exclaimed Kanji, blushing at the thoughtful meal prepared for him. His mind running away from him, as he imagined Sara dressed up in a cute frilly apron preparing the bento for him that morning. 

"Just eat what you can eat, it's fine." mumbled Sara through the chews of her own food, misunderstanding Kanji.

"No! I-I mean, you musta put a lot of effort into this, right?" 

"Well, yeah - but it's a thank you gift, so it's worth it. Eat up, Kanji-kun!" 

"Y-yeah okay!"

Ayane snickered to herself, watching the two most oblivious students she'd ever met chat over lunch. The earlier fight, forgotten. 

\-----

##### After School

As soon as the final school bell run, Sara watched as Ayane ran off to band practice, mentioning something about new members and being excited for club. The silver-ette finished packing her belongings and started making her way out of the classroom, but not before realising another set of footsteps was following her. Turning around she saw Kanji towering over her small frame. She arched a thin eyebrow, wondering what he was doing.

"Aren't we going to the lookout?" 

Oh. Right. Sara had forgotten about her offer from that morning, but she thought he had forgotten about that too. 

"Uhm, yes!" she said flushing in embarrassment. 

"Well, c'mon then!" 

Kanji snatched up her hand, half dragging her out of the school gates and towards the central shopping district. 

"W-wait! Kanji! You're walking too fast!" 

\-----

Once on the bus, Sara and Kanji watched the scenery blur past in the window. Sara figured that she should probably ask what had been on her mind after the lunch incident. 

"Hey, Kanji-kun? So, what happened with that kid at school?"

"Huh?" he turned to face Sara,

"You know, the one you almost bashed up? What did he do or say to make you that mad?"

Kanji rubbed the back of his neck, "Uhh, well… I was comin' back to the classroom and I uh… heard him talking shit about me. I think he sayin' something about a rumour… somethin' about me taking advantage of the new kid."

"Oh…"

"'N I don't really remember much after that… but I do remember you saying something about lunch and then I dunno, I wasn't so mad after that." 

"You really did look like you were going to beat up that kid though…" 

Kanji looked sheepish, "I prolly woulda, if you hadn't butted in." 

"Is that such a bad thing though?" Sara questioned.

"Uh.. Nah, I guess not." The two teens grinned at each other. "So uh, you called me by my first name, no honorifics today… A couple times" 

"O-oh.. U-uum… Yeah..?" she stammered, wincing at her lack of respect for her classmate.

"Hey, it's fine, don't get all embarrassed on me. I'm not exactly one for formalities n all that." 

"Erm, okay. But you have to promise to drop the formalities for me too, alright?" 

"R-right!" Kanji blushed in shock of her forwardness. "W-we're almost at our stop!"

\-----

The two teens watched the small town from afar. Kanji pointed out places that they both knew of like the school, the central shopping district, their homes and the various places where he'd gotten into fights.   
As they both took in the sights, both familiar and new, being able to look down at their small town from above turned the conversation introspective. 

"Hey, Sara. So you're from the big city right?" Sara nodded in response. "So uh… do you miss it?" 

The silverette hummed in thought. "Mmmm… Not really. Things here are a lot more quiet… peaceful… there's more room to breathe and just like, think." 

"What about friends, or y'know a boyfriend? Don'tcha miss them?"

"U-um. No, I didn't have a boyfriend… but none of my 'friends' really made an effort to keep in touch, even before I made the move. I think… maybe it was a friendship of convenience?"

"Whadda you mean?" 

"Like, you're friends… but only because you go to the same school or are part of the same club, but don't really interact outside of that." 

"Huh, that kinda sucks." 

"You don't have to tell me… But um…" she hesitated, "Things have been pretty good so far here… Ayane has been a great friend, and your Mum really helped too.."

"Ma?"

"She was the one who invited me to the class yesterday, and it was good that she did - cos I got to meet you!"

"I- um… uh…", Kanji stumbled on his words, "Thanks.. But uh, weren't you scareda me?"

"Hmm, why?" Sara tilted her head in confusion. 

"Ya know, the piercings, the bleached hair, the rumours?"

"No… not really? I thought you looked interesting."

"Really?" Kanji's brow raised in surprised. 

"Yeah! Like, I dunno.. All those things made you stand out, b-but in a good way!" Sara corrected herself, "So, uh.. What about you?" 

"What about me?"

"Don't you have friends you'd usually hang with? Everyone else in town seems to have their friend group pretty well established at this point…." she said, sounding a bit resentful.

"Nah, not me. Ya heard the rumours, right?"

"A little…" her brow furrowed, worried about what he'd say next. 

"Mosta the kids in town avoid me 'cosa those rumours…. Beatin' up the biker gang on yer own gives you a bit of a bad rep."

"Just a bit?" Sara joked, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow.

"Yea, just a bit." he laughed.

As their conversation died down, the two classmates enjoyed a moment of peace up on the hill. The gentle breeze brushed their skin and as the sound of crickets filled the air. Sara remembered something about the events earlier in the day, "So, Kanji? Um… Why'd you let me pull you away from that fight anyway? You don't look like you'd give up from a fight like that…"

"Uh.. I don't really know. I guess you give off a calm sorta vibe 'n stuff?" 

"Oh.. really?" 

"Yeah, I dunno. Maybe it's cos Ma likes you enough to invite you 'fer tea and shit. But uh… No one's really tried to stop me from fightin' like that before either, so yeah…" Kanji awkwardly trailed off. The conversation came to a snail's pace, neither party really sure if or how to continue their conversation. Sara again remembered Tatsumi-san's words about letting a few barriers down - it was worth a shot right? 

"I - I" she stammered, "I think… it's really admirable that you're able to say what exactly's on your mind." 

"Huh?" Kanji looked confused, his brow furrowed.

"I-I mean… You felt angry at that other student, so you showed it and said exactly how you felt." 

"Yeah, but that's what got me inta trouble, right? How's that admirable?"

"It's something I'm not very good at…. Everything I feel kind of just… bottles itself up." Sara took a breath, continuing her confession, "So as much as I look impassive and calm, anything that does bother me is just really simmering deep inside…" 

Kanji looked deep in thought at her words. She was a little teary at having been so open for the first time in what felt like forever. A large warm hand gripped hers tightly. She looked back up at her friend, seeing a determined grin plastered on his face. "Hey, I know what'll help"

He pulled her gently back over to the lookout. "Okay, just yell, scream and whatever." He commanded of her. 

"W-what do you mean?" 

"Like, uh… I HATE GOSSPIN' IDIOTS!" He yelled, out into the open air. His voice loud and echo-y as the sound reverberated amongst the hilltops. "Right, your turn." 

"Uh, right… Um.." she stuttered, hesitating as she thought of what lay heavy on her mind. Once decided she yelled at the top of her voice, "MY BROTHER'S A TOTAL NUT!"

Her yell was quickly accompanied by Kanji's full-blown laughter. "W-hat! Kanji! Stop laughing!" 

"AHAHA - Of all the things - Ehehe you coulda said" 

The contagious laughter surely enough spread to Sara, as she laughed along with Kanji. All in all, it was an afternoon well spent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got hungry writing this chapter.... 
> 
> As a side note, I felt like the whole honorifics thing isn't something that's super big in-game, bc everyone's suddenly friends and all that. So I felt like I should put in that scene just to mark the small hallmarks in their relationship, like you'd probably see an irl friendship/relationship. 
> 
> Also, there are SO MANY ELLIPSES (…) in the dialogue of P4, so I felt like I needed to replicate that in all the dialogue I'm writing up.


	12. Cute cafes and even cuter company

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A break from the usual program - our three first years visit a café together before Golden week and exam week.

#### May 1, 2011

##### Okina City

Okina city was as close as any Inaba local could get to being in the big city without having to spend a large amount of time or money for travel. There were various venues that could be enjoyed in Okina that were not available in Inaba, ranging from fashion stores to cafes to the cinema showing the latest films. And for this reasno, Sunday, which was a free day for students, typically saw a temporary mass migration of students from Inaba to Okina. 

Sara and her new friends, Ayane and Kanji were not dissimilar. The trio had finally made plans to enjoy a day in Okina to have a belated welcome celebration for their favourite silver-ette and enjoy what little free time they had before needing to study for their upcoming exams. 

After taking the short train trip over, they had quickly made their way to Chagall Café to enjoy good food and even better coffee. The café was part of a popular chain that had stores all over Japan, and it was no surprise that business was buzzing that cloudy Sunday morning. Although busy, the trio of first years were thankfully able to snag the last available booth in the crowded venue, and were quickly handed menus to decide what to eat and drink. 

"Oooh! I'm so hungry and all this food looks so good!" cheered Sara, shuffling into the booth behind Kanji. "Mmmm! And the smell of coffee! Oh how I've missed you!" 

"I heard some of the girls in our class saying that soufflé pancakes were recently added as a new menu item! It sounds really yummy!" Ayane informed the other two, gently folding her red sweater jacket over her white bag that hung off the back of her chair. 

"Hey, you d'you reckon their 'catpuccino' is gonna be all coffee art or one of those milk foam sculptures that're getting popular online?" questioned Kanji, looking over the extensive menu, hunching slightly to fit his large gangly frame over the table and balance his leather jacket-clothed elbows on it. 

"I'm sure it'll look super cute either way!" responded Sara, still undecided on her order. "Urghhh - there's so much on this menu I wanna try!" The other two nodded in silent agreement with her. 

"Hey what if we order a bunch of dishes, and we can split them so we get to try a bunch at once?" suggested Ayane.

"Yeah, but you betta order those soufflé pancakes you were talkin' bout" agreed Kanji. 

After a couple minutes of discussion the trio placed their order with the server. Whilst waiting for their food and drinks to arrive, they began to talk about their plans for Golden Week. 

"My parents got the week off, so I think we're going to go visit my grandparents who live in the next town" mentioned Ayane. "I'll really need to study hard to make up for all the extra time I've been putting into practicing trombone though…" 

"The store's closed for the week, but Me 'n Ma aren't going anywhere. I was thinkin' I could prolly cook a nice dinner fer her though" said Kanji, thinking aloud, "But uh, study… yeah that's gonna be a tough one…" 

"Maybe I can come over and study with you?" offered Sara kindly, "Two brains are always better than one!" 

"Y-yeah! That sounds real good…" smiled Kanji warmly, "But uh, you got any plans for Golden Week?"

"Mmmm, since Amagi-senpai's was found, my uncle's got a lighter workload… So he talked about maybe being able to take a couple days off so that he can take us all on a small holiday." Sara recounted, "But my cousin, Nanako, _reaallly_ wants to go to Junes - she loves that place." 

Before their conversation could continue, their food and drinks were delivered by the server. 

"Here we are! Three small plates for sharing…. Soufflé pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries, a combo breakfast plate with scrambled eggs to share, and a corn fritter croissant?" announced the server, naming each dish as he placed it down on the table. "Then for drinks, we have one catpuccino, a sunshine breeze and one mocha frappuccino with whipped cream!"

The catpuccino was handed to Kanji who stared in amazement as the foam had been skilfully and expertly shaped into a 3D cat that appeared to be emerging from the depth of his cup. Ayane had ordered the sunshine breeze, a mixed juice smoothie that was held inside a thin tall glass, where the colours of the different juices were separated by density, creating a colour gradient from deep red up to yellow. Sara, on the otherhand, tried their mocha frappuccino, which has been stylishly decorated in a milkshake glass with a swirl of whipped cream, chocolate powder and a bright red cherry on top. 

With the table now brimming with colourful dishes and the delicious smells wafting towards the three first-years, their eyes widened and mouths watered in anticipation. Ayane, who was unable to wait any longer, lifted her fork and knife to start cutting into the food. 

"Wait! Ayane! I gotta take a picture!" exclaimed Sara, quickly pulling out a polaroid camera from her bag before turning to the server. "Um, excuse me sir? Could you please take a picture of us?" 

The server readily agreed, giving the teens a few moments to position themselves around the full table. Sara ended up squished between Ayane and Kanji, with Kanji putting his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer into the booth to make room for Ayane to squeeze into the small booth space that the two shared.

"Alright, smiiiile!" 

The three friends grinned happily into the camera, their fingers poised in a 'V' shape.   
'Click!' The server handed the camera back as a small white rectangle was spat out of the camera. Sara plucked it out and let it rest on the table, allowing the photo to develop whilst they ate the food sat before them.

As soon as the food was divvied up, moans of delight sounded from the delighted teens.

"This. Is. SO. GOOD!" groaned Sara.

Ayane hummed in agreement, eyes glazed over in food-gasmic bliss and cheeks puffed out like a hamster as she savoured flavours exploding on her palate. 

The combo breakfast plate was heavily laden with fried mushrooms, hashbrowns, breakfast sausages, crispy bacon, scrambled eggs and lightly toasted sourdough surrounding a small white ramekin of butter at the centre. The plate itself was huge and took up most of the table space. The corn fritter croissant was dripping with melted cheese and roasted corn, styled with a shards of baked parmesan crisps and the plate dusted with a light coating of matcha powder. 

Despite the two already amazing dishes, the soufflé pancakes was the real star of the show. A large stack of thick fluffy pancakes towered way above the table, absolutely dripping in maple syrup and melted butter. A dollop of dense sweetened whipped cream was put to the side of the pancake tower, looking more like a big scoop of icecream than scoop of whipped cream.

"How - *munch* do *munch* they *gulp* make these pancakes so fluffy?!" exclaimed Kanji between his large messy bites of food, sugary syrup thickly coating his lips. 

"Ahahaha Kanji!" laughed Sara. "You've got some whipped cream on your nose!"  
She shuffled closer to her friend before reaching up and using the napkin to wipe the small dollop clean off. Her actions caused a chain reaction of spluttering and blushing from the tall boy. This was followed by Ayane chortling at the exchange.

"H-hey!" he retorted, averting his eyes from his friends in embarrassment. 

"Hurry up your guys, I'm going to eat all this food otherwise!" faux-threatened Ayane, seeing the two opposite her slow in their eating. 

Shocked, Sara and Kanji resumed eating and savouring the flavours of the food before them, thoroughly enjoying their day out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some P4G elements in here, since exploration of Okina city wasn't introduced until then… but it felt fitting to incorporate them here. 
> 
> As a big foodie, I find it really fun to start describing food and dishes, but it's super hard to write when I start making myself hungry in the middle of the night. 
> 
> Also just a small note for those who don't know what Golden Week is. In Japan, there are a series of public holidays that are celebrated closely together, usually at the end of April to early May. Because the dates of these public holidays are so close to one another, many companies give their employees the entire week off.   
> This period of time is usually used to go on holiday or visit family.


	13. Golden Week

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara plans a Dojima-Narukami family event in the wake of their lost family holiday. Plus a good old cram session.

#### May 3, 2011

##### Dojima Residence

Today was a public holiday which meant that _everyone_ was supposed to have the day off. And this was more or less true, except for Sara and Yū's uncle, who unfortunately was unable to take time off work since one of the other guys at work had fallen sick and there was no one else able to fill in for him. 

When Sara had found out the night prior, she wondered if her uncle's co-worker was _actually_ sick or just making excuses to get the time off. Out of all the people in Inaba, her uncle was the most deserving of time off. He worked his arse off to keep the town safe, even if it was at the expense of his private and home life. 

Understandably, poor Nanko had been devastated at the bad news, having been so eager to spend the holiday together as a family. Sara had to hear her younger cousin cry herself to sleep that night, and was unable to do anything at that exact moment about the whole situation. 

This morning, however, had faired slightly better than the previous night. The reason being that Chie had turned up on their doorstep to invite the older Narukami out for the day. Thankfully, Yū had been more than happy to let Nanako tag along, which gave Sara the chance to organise and set up a surprise for when they got home.

As soon as the two left, Sara grabbed her phone, messaging her brother to let her know where they were going and message her as soon as they were on their way back home. When asked why she wanted to know, she merely replied that she was setting up a special surprise for their dearest cousin. 

Making a list, Sara jotted down all the ingredients and supplies she would need onto a small sticky note that she put in her pocket. 'Batteries for torches, twine, chips, long bamboo skewers, chocolate, marshmallows, wafer crackers, pasta, beef mince, canned diced tomatoes, button mushrooms'. Before leaving the house, however, she gathered some spare sheets and clothing pegs and set them down on the tea table to set up later. 

As she slipped her shoes on, her phone pinged with two new incoming messages - one rom her brother and one from Kanji. Yū's message read, '@ Junes FC. Nanako happy. Will b here til round 4, then heading home."

Phew. That meant that she could slip in and out of the grocery department more or less undetected. 

Not feeling the need to reply to Yū and waste her phone credit, she double checked her belongings. Sachel bag? Check. Keys? Check. Purse and flip phone? Check. Now ready, she set out to the bus stop located in the central shopping district. 

Walking along the suburban streets, Sara decided to check what Kanji had messaged her. 'Hey.' it read, 'R u busy rn? Im bored @ the store & Ma gettin annoyed w me.'

Laughing, she typed out her reply - 'Going 2 get groceries frm Junes - feel free 2 join me? Will b at bus stop in 5 mins.'. After her thumb pressed the send button, she tucked the baby blue phone back into her bag and continued onwards to the bus stop. 

Once the said bus stop was in sight, Sara spotted a head of blonde hair, and metal glistening in the sunlight. All obvious signs pointed to it being Kanji. There was of course, a couple other people also waiting there, but Sara didn't know who they were. 

Waving her hand back and forth excitedly, she continued her approach, shouting out - "Hey! Kanji!" 

She got an awkward wave back. Although she wasn't close enough to see the signs, there was little doubt in her mind that Kanji- the big friendly giant - was more than slightly embarrassed by her excited waving and calling out in public. But when she finally made it to the bus stop on her short little legs, she was greeted with a light squeeze around the shoulders.

"Hey!" he greeted casually, "So, uh… Grocery shopping?"

"Yep!"

"Any special occasion?"

"Ummm… So, our family trip's not happenin' anymore." muttered Sara sadly.

"What? How come?"

"My uncle had to fill in for someone else who was sick, so he couldn't take the time off anymore" she said, pouting. "Nanako was devastated! So, I decided that while my brother has her out of the house for the day, I'll pick up some groceries to make something special tonight!"

"Oh yeah? What's the big plan?" asked Kanji, as his thin eyebrow raised in curiosity. 

"So I'm thinking, I'll 'pitch' a tent in the living room and after dinner, we can try making those smores I keep hearing about from those American TV shows!"

"Huh, whatta those? Smose? Smoors?"

"Smores." she repeated slowly, "They're supposed to be like a sandwich, but the middle is a toasted marshmallow, the bread is wafer-like biscuits… and the butter is melted chocolate!" 

"Damn! That sounds so good! Like, diabetes heaven!" 

"I know right?! And the best part is whenever I see them on those TV shows, they're always on a camp or family outing!" 

The conversation was briefly paused as the shuttle bus to Junes noisily pulled up at the stop. The blonde and silver-ette quickly hopped on and grabbed seats together before resuming their chatter on the short bus trip across town. 

\-----

##### Junes Grocery Department

A wave of crisp filtered air brushed over her as the automatic doors of the Junes Grocery Department slid open before her. The bright overhead lights made the displays of food and produce shine enticingly as customers entered the store.

But Sara was a lady on a mission today. She made a beeline for aisle marked 'batteries', whilst Kanji trailled behind the small silver-ette obediently like a lost puppy. Once in the aisle, she stopped to locate the exact type of battery she needed - a D size battery to fit the large flashlight at home. By the size and heft to it, Sara reckoned it was probably one of her Uncle's old police flashlights. It was definitely heavy enough to knock a person out.

The battery aisle was admittedly in slight disarray. The system in which the different packs of batteries had been displayed seemed… nonsensical. It looked like someone had made a half-hearted attempt to organise them by brand and then by battery size? 

Sara squinted her eyes as she scanned the rows and rows of batteries in front of her. Sweet Kanji, was eventually roped into helping her find the correct battery once she realised that the size she wanted was on the top-most row and she couldn't see the pricing of each pack. In the style of the opening of Lion King, Kanji locked his hands under her armpits and lifted her high off the ground so that she became eye-level with the batteries she wanted. 

"U-um… Kanji" stuttered Sara, "Y'know you could've just told me the prices…. Instead of um… Simba-ing me?"

"O-oh… Uh…" spluttered the blonde. 

And of course at that moment Yosuke Hanamura just _had_ to have walked past the aisle the two first years were in, only to backtrack and comprehend just what he was seeing. 

"What…. _are_ you two doing…?" questioned Yosuke, his brow deeply furrowed in confusion. "Wait a minute…. I know you!" pointing at Sara, "Aren't you Yū's sister?"

"Uh… Yea?" she deadpanned. Her life couldn't get any worse at this point. "Isn't it obvious? We're shopping."

Yosuke did a double take on the blonde below her. "W-wait! And you're _that_ biker gang kid!" he exclaimed before scolding Sara. "You shouldn't be hanging out with this guy, don't you know the rumours? And now you're practically letting him grope your chest!"

The now 'tall' silver-ette could hear the grinding of Kanjis teeth and feel his hands tightening ever so slightly under her arms in reaction to Yosuke's blunt, assuming words. That brunette was going to get into a lot of trouble one day if this was how he acted normally. 

Sara sighed, plucked the D battery she needed and then addressed her friend and deskmate, patting his arm softly. "Hey Kanji, I got the battery - let's go."

Kanji gently brought back down to solid ground, with her newly secured goods. He glared at the brunette who was still standing in the aisle, and growled deeply, flashing his teeth in a show of dominance. 

"Eeep" squeaked Yosuke, taking a step back. 

"C'mon Kanji, he's not worth it. I still need to get everything else on the list." stated Sara in a manner-of-fact way, tugging lightly on his hand in the direction she wanted to go.

Kanji, after seeing that the other boy submitted to his dominant display, let her tug him along on their continued search for resources to make the elusive 'smore'. 

\-----

##### Dojima Residence

With Kanji's help, Sara's shopping escapades had been relatively quick, and for once there had been no need for her to physically climb up the shelves to reach items on the top-most shelf. The two had also grabbed pre-made bentos to snack on when they got back to the Dojima household. 

Similar to shopping, setting up the 'tent' in the living room had also been 100x quicker with the aid of Kanji's lanky arms and height. Without need of a stepstool or chair he had been able to tie the twine easily around the adhesive hooks they had placed on the wooden boarding at each corner of the room. Likewise, it was not a big job for him to set up the tent, draping the spare bed sheets Sara had taken from the linen cupboard. 

Sara passed clothing pegs to the tall blonde to keep the draped sheets in place on the twine before moving on to fix the overall shape into something that looked like an actual tent. There was one opening for the 'door' of the tent which faced the living room TV. The tea table was left in the centre of the 'tent' and the zabuton (cushions) were placed around it. 

After their all their hard work, they were able to finally treat themselves to the boxed lunches they had bought. The two sat around the dining table to eat. 

"Thanks so much for helping Kanji!" thanked Sara with a close eyed smile. 

"Nah, it's fine. It was better than bein' bored at the store all day." 

"Nice to know that you think I'm better company than your mother." she said laughed teasingly. 

"Well… uh to be honest, I prolly cause more trouble for Ma than anything" mumbled Kanji, chewing on his food thoughfully. 

"What do you mean…?"

"Y'know about that biker gang in town 'n all, yeah?" questioned Kanji, who continued after seeing Sara nod slowly, "After I beat'em up the first time, I started getting a bad rep… Plus with how I look, people go on assumin' shit about me… But uh, the rumours, I'm pretty sure they make Ma worry even more… especially when she has'ta go apologise for all the crap I get into." 

"Hey, I'm sure that despite all that your mum thinks the world of you Kanji!" soothed Sara, "Y'know when I first met her, she talked about you a bunch! I could practically see her glowing with pride!"

"Nah, that doesn't sound right." he protested, "She never says any of that kinda shit 'round me." 

"I think that's just how parents are… They'll brag about you behind your back, but can't say too much in front of you 'cos they think you might get a big head or something."

"Huh…. You might be on to something…" Kanji trailed off in thought.

\------

After lunch, Kanji had stayed for a little while longer, chatting with Sara in the kitchen while she prepared dinner and snacks for the 'camping trip' she had planned for Nanako. He left around the same time that her brother had messaged, saying that his Mum expected him home for dinner. 

As planned, Yū had texted her when he and Nanako had left Junes, also letting her know that they were going to take the long route home, via the Samegawa flood plain, to bide her some extra time to set up the food. With the detour, their estimated time of arrival was around 5:30 pm. The perfect time for an early dinner, which would give the cousins enough time to watch a movie, make smores and gorge themselves on more snacks. 

When the clock showed 5:30pm on the dot, Sara heard the front door creak open, and Nanko's cute voice call out "We're home!". 

"Welcome home you two!" cheered Sara in response, greeting them at the door, outfitted in her usual pink apron. 

"Something smells really good Sara-nee!" said the youngest cousin, sniffing the aroma that had travelled down the main hallway. When Nanko entered the kitchen/living room her eyes grew wide in excitement. "Oh wow! I-Is that a tent?"

"Sara thought we could do a 'stay-cation' instead." commented Yū patting her on the head, "Do you like it?"

"Yes! Thank you Sara-nee and Onii-chan!"

"Onii-chan?" Sara questioned, looking at Yū who shrugged casually, a light grin adorning his face.

"Yeah! Yū-kun is my Onii-chan!" cheered Nanako, "He took me to Junes today and I got to meet all his friends! Nii-chan is so cool!" 

"I'm glad you had such a good time Nanako!" smiled Sara, "Now… are you ready for our family stay-cation?"

"Yeah!" 

Sara pulled out three plates of spaghetti and meatballs and placed them on the tea table inside the tent. The sweet tangy aroma of the tomato sauce made the cousins salivate in anticipation, and soon enough all three were readily scoffing down their dinner with gusto. The room was filled the sound of Nanako's TV show paired with slurping and groans of delight at the food. 

"Wow! Sara-nee that was so good! I haven't had pasta in ages!" exclaimed Nanako with Yū nodding along in agreement. 

"Are you ready for the _real_ surprise?" asked Sara. 

"T-there's more?"

"You betcha!" Sara pulled out the packet of marshmallows and chocolate.

"Smores?" questioned Yū. 

"Yep! What else are you supposed to do at a camp?" 

"Nii-chan, what are 'smores'?" asked Nanako, tugging on Yū's sleeve. 

Yū explained to Nanako what a smore was, and how to make them.

"Oooh! Those sound so cool! But… how are we going to roast them?" she asked. 

"We're going to do it over the stove, since we have a gas stove!" said Sara, starting to pack up the dishes from dinner so that they could start on the smores. 

"I'll help clean Sara-nee, then you and Nii-chan can help me make smores faster!" 

Both Narukamis laughed at her eagerness, letting her help clean up. Yū was delegated the role of chocolatier extraordinaire, and was in charge of smothering the wafer biscuits in spreadable chocolate. Sara was the marshmallow pusher and in charge of stringing on the marshmallows onto bamboo sticks that she had pre-soaked in water to prevent them burning while they toasted the puffs of sugary goodness. 

Once everything was ready, Sara had demonstrated to Nanako how to evenly toast a marshmallow, citing that the perfectly toasted marshmallow was a nice golden brown around the sides, but it was equally good with a bit of black char on the edges. The young Dojima was stood on a step stool to reach the kitchen stove. Her brow was furrowed and her tongue poked out of her mouth in a look of total concentration. 

Nanako's dedication paid off, and she was successfully able to make the perfectly toasted marshmallow. Using the pre-coated wafer biscuits, she carefully assembled her first smore. She tried to take a small first bite of the sweet treat, but the toasted marshmallow exploded as the runny insides pushed through the toasted outside and ran over the edges of the biscuit. At the urging of Sara, Nanako pushed the entire smore into her mouth all at once, squealing in delight as the sugary goodness coated her mouth. 

Yū on the otherhand, had been a different story. He had lost concentration halfway through and set his whole marshmallow on fire. 

"Nii-chan! Your marshmallow is on fire!" shouted Nanako.

"Ahhh Yū put it out before you burn down the house!" panicked Sara. 

Yū waved his arm rapidly from side to side to put out the flame. The incident unfortunately resulted in his marshmallow become a burnt husk of its former self. It probably didn't help him that Sara and Nanako started laughing uncontrollably when he pouted due to the loss of his poor, sweet marshmallow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hated the fact that they weren't able to have that family holiday together - cos Nanako👏🏻deserves 👏🏻better👏🏻
> 
> This also means we're now one week closer to Kanji's kidnapping :))))
> 
> I've also been meaning to ask how some of you might feel about small omake type chapters to break up the flow here & there? I have a bunch of ideas that would better fit as an omake chapter opposed to trying to cram it in with everything else that's already going on.


	14. The Mysterious Disappearance of One Blonde Named Kanji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exams are over and done with, but something more sinister is beginning to brew, starting with Kanji disappearing off the face of the earth.

#### May 12, 2011

##### Central Shopping District, After School

The rest of Golden Week had been spent by Sara stressfully studying for exams, either holed up in her house or over at Kanji's helping him try to study, mostly so his mother wouldn't nag him about school anymore than she already did. In retrospect, the study sessions at Kanji's were more productive than any study Sara did alone at home. She wasn't entirely sure if it was Kanji's company, the fact that Tatsumi-san would give prepare them snacks periodically throughout the day, or just that Kanji's house didn't have her older brother's friends coming in and out all the time. 

Exams had lasted a full four days, starting on the Monday and ending on the Thursday. Unfortunately for Ayane, band restarted on the same day that exams ended, so she was unable to make time to celebrate the end of exams with Kanji and Sara in the Central Shopping District.

After school, the duo had first stopped at Shiroku Store to buy topsicles and then made their way to Souzai Daigaku to feast on their amazing meat skewers and beef croquets and grab canned drinks from the vending machine. With their post-exam feast secured the two students sat next to one another on the makeshift chairs and table outside Souzai Daigaku. 

Sara was in the middle of texting her brother about her plans for the afternoon when Kanji help up an unwrapped Topsicle to Sara's face. "Hey - here, you betta eat it before it melts" he said. 

Sara who was still in her post-exam haze, didn't even blink before she eat the sweet treat right out of the boy's hand. "Mmmm - it's just as good as you said it'd be Kanji!" she commented, freezing after her finger pressed the send button on her phone, once she realised what she just did. She hoped he wasn't freezing up in embarrassment, cos if he didn't… she was.

Look up at her friend's face, yep. He was frozen, eyes wide, a big blush across his cheeks, mouth opening and closing with no real words coming out. "Uh - uh…. Um"

"I- I" stuttered Sara, "I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking straight!"

Her head bowed both in apology but also to hide her own blush. Surprisingly it was Kanji who was able to recover quickest.

"Uh… I-it's okay!" he stammered, "Here, you wanna finish it off? …I gotta start eatin' those other ones we bought… otherwise they'll start melting…." 

"Um… okay!" she squeaked, almost snatching her unfinished treat from his hand out of pure shame. "S-so… uh… how did you find exams after all that?" she awkwardly continued, starting to munch on their other snacks.

"I think I've got a good feelin' about it this time! I think alla that extra study mighta finally paid off."

"That's great Kanji!" 

"Uh yeah… Ma was braggin' the other day that she hadn't ever seen me study so hard before… But to be honest, I think alla that extra time and help from you really helped." 

"M-me? I didn't do that much!" 

"Nah, sure ya did." Kanji encouraged, nudging her gently in the side with his elbow, "I'm usually a lazy lump when it comes to study."

Sara's retort was short-lived when they heard a loud commotion coming from up the street, near the highway. The sound of angry engine revving and voices hollering reverberated noisily down the quiet main street of the central shopping district. 

"Urgh, not _them_ again…" grumbled Kanji, "Sorry Sara, I gotta deal with these punks!" He started to stiffly get up from his milk crate seat.

"W-wait, what's happening?" questioned Sara, grabbing the blonde's arm before he could run towards the commotion.

"It's that damned biker gang! I thought they learned their lesson tha last time I beat'em up!" he growled angrily, fists clenched tightly. 

Sara quickly followed Kanji as he stomped frustratedly up the road, not wanting anything bad to happen to her best friend. To her surprise, it wasn't just the biker gang causing the commotion, but also a whole TV crew! The reporter in front of the camera and boom mic was saying something about a 'special report on biker gangs'? 

As Kanji barged in and started shouting at those part of the gang, "The hell are you punks doing here!?" The camera crew turned their cameras to him and began filming him. The already agitated blonde, didn't seem to like that very much, and he turned to the camera crew to begin yelling at them too. "This ain’t a show! Get bent!"

The biker gang and camera crew alike seemed to disappear pretty quick after Kanji's interference. 

Huffing and puffing with anger, Kanji glared at anyone who walked past him. Sara, seeing the potential for another Kanji-sized explosion, walked up to him, taking gently by the elbow. 

"Hey - they're all gone now… Let's go get some tea at home, yeah?" she soothed. 

Kanji grunted out a muffled 'fine', and the two walked back to Tatsumi textiles for some needed downtime and calming tea. 

\-----

##### Dojima Residence, Evening

Dinner that day was a quiet affair, but it was one of the few nights that Dojima joined them for their nightly meal. All four of them spent some time together watching the local news play on the TV. 

The TV showed images of the biker gang that Sara had seen earlier that day, the reporter talking about their attitude and general disregard for the public. Sara wasn't really paying attention after the long day she'd had, but she perked up when the screen cut to a blurred image of Kanji. The reporter was saying that he was one of the leaders of the biker gang? 

Sara snorted at their obvious lack of proper fact checking. The video they showed, was a clip from that afternoon when Kanji had shouted at both the biker gang and the camera crew. She didn't have to look to the screen to know what he said - she was present for it all. 

Her uncle also seemed to know who Kanji was and told her brother and cousin what he knew of the boy. Sara was pretty surprised that Dojima knew the correct version of events relating to that last time Kanji beat up the biker gang. 

"He's in my class." she blurted out. Three sets of eyes turned to her. "Uh… But he's definitely not the leader of the biker gang! He's actually really nice…" she mumbled, embarrassed about her outburst. 

"Do you know him well, Sara-nee?" inquired Nanako.

"H-he's one of my friends! But he's not always violent, I promise!"

"Just be careful he doesn't drag you something you don't want to be involved in, alright?" warned Dojima.

The news switched to the weather report and all was quiet.

\-----

#### May 17, 2011

##### Yasogami High School, Early Morning

The past few days had been really weird for Sara, like out of the norm-type weird. Both Yū and Kanji had been acting strangely over that period. Yū had begun asking all sorts of questions about her friendship with Kanji, and even asked where and when he could find him. Not that Sara could really answer that question anyway, Kanji had been busy dealing with some business for his mother the past half week and had been unable to hang out in the afternoons while he dealt with it.

Last night though, Kanji had called her in a panic. She wasn't able to make out much of his ramble, but it was something about a guy he said was interested in him?

Seeing as it _was_ past midnight when Kanji called her, Sara sleepily promised to have a proper conversation the next day at school, because her brain was unable to compute anything. 

Sara waited for Kanji at the school gate early that morning, with a peace offering of much needed milk tea.

"Hey *yawn* Kanji" greeted Sara, offering up the milk tea she'd bought for him, "I'm sorry I couldn't talk last night… you called so late last night my brain stopped working." 

Kanji looked slightly panicked, "L-let's go up to the roof… I gotta spill what's on ma mind."

He grabbed her hand and more or less dragged her sleepy body up the three flights of stairs. Plonking the two of them down to sit on the concrete ledge where the solar panels were situated. 

"Alright so…" he started, "T-there was this guy…. And um… H-he said he was interested in me!"

Sara listened intently, the coffee starting to kick in. "Okaaay…. And are you interested in him…?"

Kanji spluttered at her response, "B-but _he's_ a guy… and _I'm_ a guy… A-and… And?"

"Hey Kanji, breathe~" she soothed. "Iiiinnnnn and oouttt… once more okay?"

The blonde followed her instructions, taking a deep breath in and then letting it out slowly. He calmed down somewhat. 

"Okay, so recap, I get all this right." she said, taking the conversation into her own hands, "There's a boy who spoke to you yesterday, and he said he was interested in you." 

Kanji nodded. Sara felt a little pang in her chest, not really sure why. 

"And you're now in a tizzy because you're also interested in him? But you're not entirely sure?"

"Y-yeah, wait! No! I don't know! B-but… Y-you! Arghhhh!" cried Kanji, gripping his bleached hair tightly in his hands. 

"Hey! It's okay to not know anything for sure Kanji! You've only just met him once after all!"

"W-wait!" he paused, eyes wide, "I forgot, I-I'm suppos'ta meet with him this afternoon!" 

"Kanji! You could've told me that earlier!" scolded Sara, "I wanna see how cute this boy must be if he's sent you into this big of a mess!" 

"U-uhm, yeah?" 

"Unless… you want it to be just you and him?" 

"No! I-I mean.. Yeah! U-uh, I mean, yeah you can come too!" Kanji spluttered, "I think… I'd feel better if you were there…". A rosy tint painted his cheeks as he confessed. 

"Well… if you're sure…" said Sara considerately, "Hey, class is gonna start soon, have some of that milk tea - it's still warm from the vending machine" 

Kanji nodded, cracking open his drink to enjoy in the companionable silence between the two. 

"H-hey… Sara?" questioned Kanji. She hummed in response. "Thanks."

\-----

##### After School

Right as school ended, Sara waited in the school lobby for Kanji because he had to go to the bathroom. She thought she say Yosuke running out of the bathroom rather suspiciously… but maybe it was just him running late to a meet up or appointment. 

"Hey Sara, how do I look?" asked Kanji, nervously picking at the sleeve of the jacket hung around his shoulders. 

Sara reached up to brush some imaginary dust off the shoulders of his jacket. "You look great! Just like you do everyday!" she teased as the duo left the school and waited at the school gate. 

Sara spotted her brother and his pack of friends meeting up at the school gate as well. 

"I didn’t keep you waiting, I hope?" asked a smooth voice. 

Sara turned to see a slender young man walk up to Kanji. He was dressed all in a deep blue which paired well with his hair and grey eyes. Sara couldn't help but admire his outfit - it was very fashionable and suited him well. But he did give off a mysterious sort of vibe… and Sara could confirm that this boy was cute as heck!

"No, w-we just got here too…" Kanji responded to the boy's question, "U-um, I brought my friend along… I-if that's okay?" 

The boy just nodded, and they were on their way. The boy lead them towards Samegawa flood plain, making small talk along the way. Much to Sara's bemusement, Kanji was acting like a strutting peacock, he was walking straighter, talking with less slang and he kept brushing his hands through his hair?

Despite the amusing scene, Sara couldn't help but feel that maybe she was intruding, and so a little less than halfway through their walk, she tugged on Kanji's shirt to get his attention. Beckoning him closer, he leaned down so she could whisper to him, shivering at the sensation of her warm breath on his ear. "Hey Kanji? A-are you sure I should be here… I… can go, if you want?" 

The tall boy enveloped her smaller hand in his much larger one in a needy grip. His eyes begged her to stay with him. Sara could feel Kanji's rapid heart beat through his hands. 

She nodded in understanding. The small physical gesture conveyed his trust and confidence in her company. When the boy turned around to see what had stopped the two, both hands were quickly dropped and their walk continued. 

To both Kanji and Sara's disappointment the meeting organised between the boy and Kanji was instead a line of questioning regarding recent events with the latest murder cases, and definitely not a confession. But sara's heart flipped a little at the thought of Kanji being confessed to by someone totally unknown to the both of them. 

However, the conversation was thrown off kilter once the boy said to Kanji bluntly, "You seem to be an odd person…"

What the hell was that supposed to mean? thought Sara, who side-eyed her friend to gauge his reaction. Surely he was going to throw hands…? But there was no response. Instead, Kanji looked a bit dumbstruck and bit unsure if to take it as an insult or compliment. 

But, the moment was disturbed by loud whispering coming from two students that were not very well hidden behind a tree. Sara could see a familiar green jacket and a pair of bright orange headphone - it was Chie and Yosuke? Were they trying to spy on them?

Kanji, spotting the two interlopers, didn't look happy. He walked up to them aggressively with a scowl on his face and fits ready to pull a punch. 

"…The hell are you two doing?" he questioned, gruffly. 

Sara couldn't hear all of the conversation from her standing position a little ways away with the boy, but she did hear something about Chie and Yosuke being 'lovebirds'? Oh - and they were spying on Kanji yesterday too? Youch, how have they not been beaten up yet. 

The confrontation fell apart when Chie mentioned someone or something being 'strange'. After Kanji's reaction to being called 'odd', he fell apart and started to chase after the two fleeing second years. 

Whelp… that was them gone. 

Sara turned to the boy standing next to her, holding out her hand for a proper introduction. "Hey, sorry I didn't properly introduce myself… I'm Sara Narukami, nice to meet you!" 

The slightly shorter boy, gave her a solid handshake. "I am Naoto Shirogane, pleasure to meet you, miss." he nodded his cap politely in her direction. 

"So I assume you're a detective…? junior detective…? Oh wait, you didn’t have a badge… consulting detective then…?" Sara rambled. 

The boy gave her a soft smile. Yep - super duper cute, thought Sara. 

"You're more observant that I thought…" he commented bluntly, but somehow made it seem more like a compliment.

"A-ah… I try… Say, Shirogane-san, how old are you… if you don't mind me asking? U-uhm.. Just because you look so young, and I think it's super cool that you can be a consulting detective so young! I-it's nothing to do with doubting your capabilities or a-anything like that!" Sara scrambled thinking she might've offended this boy she had just met. 

"Thank you, Narukami-san…. I don't mind answering your question" Naoto responded politely, "I am 16… so there is no doubt that I am much younger than your standard detective… But I hope to be of use and prove my ability by solving this case." 

Naoto appeared and sounded so confident in his ability, that Sara had a feeling that he would be a fantastic detective, and she told him just that. The poor boy, unused to compliments was only able to blush in response. 

"Y-you think so?" he asked meekly. 

"Of course! With your dedication and talent I'm sure you'll be an amazing detective!" she cheered, "And I think… my opinion's pretty valid given I see Dojima and Adachi every other day." 

The conversation came to a gentle pause, it wasn't awkward but both didn't know the other well enough to continue the casual conversation. 

Sara realised at that point that Kanji had been gone for a good amount of time. "U-um, Shirogane-san… I don't think Kanji's going to come back… especially after that outburst. So… hopefully you have no more questions for him?" 

The blue-nette shook his head. "I think I have everything I need." 

Sara gave a sigh of relief, "That's good… Um, I think I'm going to start heading home now… I promised my cousin that I'd show her how to sow." 

"I'll walk you home." offered the boy. 

"U-um.. Okay." 

And the duo set off

\-----

##### Dojima Residence, Evening

After dinner, almost like a nightly routine, Sara and Kanji would call either to help each other with homework or chat about their day or what was on their mind. 

Kanji was super apologetic about running off and leaving her with essentially a total stranger, especially since he knew of Sara's occasional bout of social anxiety. 

"Kanji, really it's okay!" she soothed, her heart swelling over his concern for her. "He was actually a pretty nice guy and super cute too!" 

"Hey!" he exclaimed, "Technically I saw 'im first!" Although his words came of as faux-angry, his heart sank a little in his chest. 

"Buuutt ~ don't worry you're cuter!" she teased, feeling more confident since she didn't have to face Kanji in person.

"W-what's that supposed to mean?" he spluttered. 

Before Sara could respond, their call was disturbed by the ringing of the doorbell from Kanji's side of the phone. 

"Hey Sara? I gotta go answer the door, it's prolly a delivery for Ma, and I'll need both my hands to carry it. But thanks, again, yeah? I'll call you back in a sec. Lov- uh - bYE!" 

The phone line clicked abruptly. What a weird way to end a phone call thought Sara. 

\-----

##### Dojima Residence, Midnight

It was late, and Sara wouldn't normally be up at this house unless something bad had happened - which is precisely what the issue was. Hours after Kanji and Sara had been on the phone together, Tatsumi-san, Kanji's mother, had called her up asking if Kanji was at her house… because apparently Kanji had left home, and just never come back. This wasn't unusual behaviour in the past, but in the past month or so he had taken to letting his mother know an approximate time that he'd back, and more often than not, he could be found lounging in his room talking to Sara all evening. 

Sara's stomach curled with worry, flip flopping at every bad possible situation he could've gotten himself into. Maybe she should have gone over to his place after the meeting with Naoto? Maybe the biker gang decided they had finally had enough of him? Maybe it was the police? 

Her thoughts were spiralling, each scenario she thought up worse and worse. She didn't get much sleep that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, 14 chapters just to get to the point where Kanji is kidnapped, and there are very small hints at their developing relationship. 
> 
> Updates will slow (may update every 3 - 4 days) because I'm back to essentially back to fulltime work and study, and this is all my downtime writing. But I do have some chapters pre-written ahead of time.


	15. Finding a Recording, Finding  a Lead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanji's missing, and Sara gets and follows a lead.

#### May 18, 2011

##### Central Shopping District, After School

Sara had not been able to concentrate all day, and for several reasons - her stomach felt sick with worry, her mind scrambled thinking about where her best friend and desk mate could be… and she kept thinking about how weird the lead up to Kanji's disappearance was. The fact that he had been talking to a detective, and then her brother's friends were spying on them, and then he goes missing the same day..? Surely those weren't coincidences. 

What really hit the nail in the coffin though, was seeing her brother and his three friends, Chie, Yosuke and Yukiko running around the Central Shopping District asking questions about Kanji. It was strange that they completed avoided talking to her or even making eye contact at all costs.. With all this abnormal behaviour, Sara didn't need to be a detective to know that some thing suspicious was afoot… Not to mention with the ever so slight interrogations Yū would get from their uncle… Even her uncle's natural intuition was telling him something was amiss in this town.

Pausing in front of the Moel gas station on the main street of the shopping district, Sara tried to piece together all the facts. But was broken from her thoughts by a smooth voice talking to her. 

Turning her head, she saw the Moel attendant dressed in his orange and white gas station uniform. He had long-ish grey hair and striking, slightly creepy red eyes. He had walked up to her whilst she was mid-thought to ask if she was okay. 

"Ah, sorry! I'm just worried about my friend… he's been missing since last night… and he won't pick up his phone at all…" replied Sara, feeling the need to vent her worry, even if it was to a complete stranger. 

"I'm sorry to hear that…" soothed the attendant. "But… maybe I can tell you something that might take your mind off of things?"

Sara arched an eyebrow in curiosity - whatever it was, it had better be good.

The attendant continued, "Well… I hear that people are watching something called the 'Midnight Channel'… You look into the blank screen of a TV at night when it's raining, and you're supposed to see the face of your soulmate! Sounds pretty cool right? Maybe you should try it yourself sometime?" 

Sara huffed in amusement. It all sounded like a bogus rumour, there was no way those sorts of thing could actually happen in real life. "Hah… Thanks for trying to cheer me up… I'll think about it" she finally responded to the attendant, waving him goodbye and heading home. Maybe watching some reruns of Featherman R would take her mind off things…?

\-----

##### Dojima Residence

Once she arrived home, she was quickly greeted by Nanako's cheery voice - "Welcome home!"

Her cousin had rushed home today to watch a special episode of one of her shows that was airing today. "Hey Nanako!" responded Sara, "I'm going to go use the TV up in Yū's room, okay? But I bought some snacks, they're on the kitchen table if you want some!"

"Okay! Thanks nee-chan!"

Sara stumbled up the stairs, the weight of the day making her bones feel weary. After leaving her school bag and changing out of her uniform into sweatpants and a loose shirt. She made her way into Yū's room, tugging a fuzzy blanket with her to cocoon herself while watching Featherman R. 

Once all her goods had been procured and scattered messily across the couch and low table in Yū's room, she started to fiddle with the TV and the DVD player hooked upto it. Being unfamiliar with the set up, Sara pushed the on button and then accidentally hit the 'Play' button, only for the TV to start showing a recording. There was some old-timey sort of music that overlay the image of a blurry, almost foggy image. Sara could barely make out what the recording was of. 

Then, a sultry voice began to speak, paired with the sight of some very familiar and striking, bleached blonde hair, and his very bare chest. 

"K-kanji?!" she gasped in shock, unable to tear her eyes from the screen. 

"Hel-LO, dear viewers… It’s time for "Bad, Bad Bathhouse"! Tonight, I’ll introduce a superb site for those searching for sublime love that surpasses the separation of the sexes!" the boy announced, finishing his sentence with a 'growl'. 

The camera zoomed out, and Sara could now see that her friend was dressed in just a loin cloth. Her face was red as a tomato, her brain unable to compute what she was seeing. 

"I’m your host, Kanji Tatsumi, serving you this scandalously special sneak-in report! Goodness gracious, just imagine the things that might happen to me there! Ooooh! Well then, let’s get this show on the road! Tootaloo!"

The recording ended with Kanji's retreating figure moving into the distance his typical goofy stomp. 

"I-I…." stammered Sara, "W-what the HELL?! Why is _this_ recorded on Yū's DVD player…?"  
Her breaths got shorter and shorter, to the point where she was hyperventilating. "B-but Kanji's… missing…? Did someone drug him and force him to do this…?" 

Her mind reeled with possibilities - but one thing she knew for certain was her brother knew more than he was letting on…. She just had to wait for the opportune moment to arise and she'd figure out what exactly he had been hiding from her this past month…. But until then… she kinda wanted to rewatch that recording…

\-----

#### May 19, 2011

##### After School

Sara had planned everything to a 't'. After her discovery last night, she now had a whole notebook dedicated to anything she found mildly suspicious, spanning over the past month since she and her brother had arrived in Inaba. She was determined to get to the bottom of this, if not for Kanji, then for her own sanity. 

Now all she had to do was some recon work. If her notes were accurate, Yū and his friends would most likely be meeting up at Junes food court at some point… it seemed to be a meeting point, or 'secret base' if you will, serving as a space for them to discuss and debate. Sara had a sneaking suspicion that the electronics department of Junes was also important - as noted by Dojima the week prior.

She also remembered Nanako telling her about a day during Golden week where Yū took her to hang out with a bunch of boys from school, apparently Yosuke and Yū had acted funny when one of the athletic boys joked about being able to fall into one of the TV. 

With a backpack holding a change of clothes, drink bottle, snacks, a flashlight, rope and her trusty notebook with a couple pens, Sara left school quickly, heading to Junes where she would get changed into some plain clothes - a plain pair of leggings, a light blue top and grey jumper. There was a huge benefit in being able to 'blend in' so to speak. She also brought with her a navy blue beanie to shove most of her hair into, essentially hiding her most distinguishable feature so as not to tip off the second years. 

Once in the electronics section, Sara quickly found a prime hiding position in one of the aisles near the TV section. Close enough to see and hear what the second years may be doing or saying, but far and hidden enough that no one would notice her presence. 

10 minutes passed, and then 20. Sara waited patiently by passing as a 'browsing customer' who was taking notes on products. Her patience paid off, given another 15 minutes, her brother and his entourage showed up. She heard the bickering between Chie and Yosuke way before she could see them. They still wore their school uniform, but Sara could just make out something shoved beneath their clothes. 

It looked like Yosuke was trying to hide knives…? Yukiko had some sort of sharpened metal fan? Chie didn't have anything that was noticeably different, except for a pair of really nice sports shoes. And her brother… oh brother… he was attempting to hide a whole katana in his school uniform… but it seemed that his hiding skills needed some more work… Strangely though, she saw a flash of orange - the fox from the shine! What was it doing here…?

After some more bickering between Chie and Yosuke, Sara's brother broke them apart, stating that they'd go save Kanji. 

Sara's eye glinted from her hidden position. Her suspicion was right - Kanji was definitely in trouble and her brother knew more than he let on. 

Then, the most surprising thing happened. The quartet of second years slid INTO the TV, as easily as a person would slip into a swimming pool. The two girls went first, followed by Yosuke and then Yū. Quickly dashing forwards so as to not lose their trail, Sara's fingertips touched the TV just as Yū's hand began to disappear behind it. Sara tumbled in behind him, eyes closed, anticipating pain.

It was a strange sensation, entering the TV. At first Sara felt a strange tugging sensation from behind her belly button… not dissimilar to the feeling you'd get when on a rollercoaster and experience a fast drop, and after that feeling faded… she felt like she was slipping through something cool to the touch… and then floating on still water. 

When she opened her eyes again, she was no longer in Junes. She was in some sort of TV studio? And there was a dense fog that clung to everything in her immediate sight. One thing she could no longer see was her brother and his friends, even though she swore that they'd just been just a moment ahead. 

Sara took a moment to instead concentrate on her other senses, hoping that something would give her a clue about which direction they went in. She could just hear the continual bickering between Chie and Yosuke in the distance - did they _ever_ stop?

Towards the voices she went. The fog started to make her head hurt a bit, as she had to focus even harder to figure out which direction she was going in. She thought that she could hear a fifth person too… a little boy? He sounded very excited… Did Yū have friends down in this strange place too…?

With some bumps and bruises from stumbling through the fog, Sara was eventually able to make out some lights up ahead. The fog was getting thicker, but there was now also a humidity to it, almost as if she was in sauna or bathhouse. 

There was a long row of lockers that lead up to a heavy set of doors. Getting closer, Sara could just make out the words 'men's only' written on the top banner. 

She cocked her head in confusion - how did she end up in a bathhouse, she'd just been in a TV studio..?

_C’mere, pussycat…_  
_Oh… Such well-defined pecs…_  
_There’s no need to be scared…_  
_Now, just relax…_

The tiny silver-ette blushed brightly hearing the sultry voices emanating outwards from the doors. Would she dare go in? Every bone in her body screamed to run away and that something was strange about this place, but her head and her heart were louder, telling her to continue on and find out what had happened to her friend and how exactly her brother was involved in all this. 

Sara pulled out the hefty police torch from the bag she had brought with her, grasping on tightly to use it as a weapon if anything… or anyone unsavoury came her way. And she took a step into the bathhouse, then another. The steam and fog engulfed her eerily as she started her mission onwards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note that the 'recording' of the midnight channel was something only really brought up in the animation, not in-game. But I thought it would be fun to integrate it here.
> 
> Legitimately, thank you everyone who's read this - I didn't expect so many people to actually read, comment, kudo, bookmark this fic. It's a little mind-boggling, especially since creative/fiction writing is something I don't do very often (if ever).


	16. Steamy Bathhouse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steam and fog don't make for great eyesight. Sara stumbled onwards into the Steamy Bathhouse, unsure what exactly she's gotten herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the first chapter that has a singular day split into two separate chapters. Please ensure you've read chapter 15 before this.

#### May 19, 2011

##### Steamy Bathhouse, Midnight Channel

Sara was lost. The thick fog from the TV studio was still present on top of the heavy steam of the bathhouse that she now presently wandering aimlessly inside of. The humidity made for bad stamina as she practically dripped with sweat and panted in her exhaustion. Her clothes stuck uncomfortably to her skin and her muscles spasmed and trembled. Her jacket and beanie had been long ago, shoved away in her bag.

The bottle of water she had brought for herself was almost completely empty at this point, and she could feel the rising need for more water burn her throat. Although there was another bottle in her bag, that one had been reserved for Kanji, in the case she found him and he was in a bad way He had of course, been missing for several days now… and now it seemed unlikely that he would've had easy access to food or water. 

Moving onwards, despite the heat and exhaustion, she had yet to encounter anyone or anything so far. So Sara wasn't entirely sure if her eyes were playing tricks on her, when she thought she saw a familiar bush of blonde hair running around in the corridor ahead of her. 

"Kanji!" she called out, hoping it was him, running down the hallway.

The Kanji-esque figure turned around at the shout. Sara now saw that it was the version of Kanji she had seen on Yū's recording. He cocked his head looking at her with bright yellow eyes. 

"Hel-LO, Sara!" the yellow-eyed version of her friend purred.

"K-kanji? W-where are yer clothes?" she stammered, trying to solely focus her eyes on his face to contain her growing blush.

"Ooooh! Welll, that's a loooong story~" he stalked closer to her to whisper in her ear, "Why? Don't you like me like this"

"U-uhm, yes!" Sara fumbled, confused "Uh - wait! No! I-I…"

"Well, is it a yes or a no?" demanded 'Kanji', holding her wrist tightly.

"I-I-I" she stuttered. Her body felt too hot, the combination of the steam from the bathhouse, the stress of the fog and now Kanji, forced her to go into overdrive. Her vision crossed, head spun, Sara could only just feel the slow pull of gravity as she saw black and her body tumbled into a faint. 

"Tch" clicked 'Kanji' in annoyance, catching the silver-ette as she slumped into his arms. The set of glowing yellow eyes watched the girl avidly, as her chest moved up and down with each shallow breath and her cheeks remained stained with a feverish blush. 

Picking her up, he adjusted her weight in his arms to hold her in a princess carry. Humming a happy tune, he continued deeper into the bathhouse. 

\----

The investigation team had made steady progress battling their way through the lower floors of the bathhouse. Upon reaching the seventh floor, Teddie mentions to the group that he can sense Kanji up ahead, and with that the group moved even more energetically to face what challenges lay ahead. 

Coming across a door which had a vast amount of steam drifting through it, they slammed it open. Only for 'Kanji' to greet them, "Welcome to a Man's World!"

The team stared in shock at the large shadow that stood next to Kanji, only to redirect their attention to the blonde when he announced, "This place is heating up from the sudden entry of a fine young man! To celebrate this encounter, I've prepared a special stage tonight!". 

While the other second-years were concentrated the shadow's speech, Yū noticed a familiar head of silver hair, slumped against a bannister, partially hidden by the steam and the two imposing figures before him. 

"S-sara?!" he blurted out, no longer listening to the shadow's spiel, "What've you done to my sister?!" 

Yosuke, Chie and Yukiko all had looks of shock on their face, now seeing the smaller Narukami passed out behind the two shadows. Had the killer also kidnapped Sara while they were investigating? 

"Y-you don’t think the killer…?" whispered Chie, unable to finish her sentence.

"She doesn't have any connection to the case, though…?" muttered Yosuke, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Tatsumi-san did say that she was Kanji's best friend though… so maybe?" offered Yukiko.

Shadow Kanji grinned seeing the team in disarray. "Toodle-dooo~" he hummed, moving to pick up his silverette and carry her close to his chest, "C'mon babes~" 

Yū could only grit his teeth at the shadow as the retreating figure ran away from the fight with his sister. Yosuke grasped Yū's shoulder tightly, "C'mon, we just gotta take down this shadow, then we can start looking for _both_ Kanji _and_ your sister."

The two boys nodded at each other, moving into position to fight the large, buff shadow that blocked their way forwards. 

\-----

##### Steamy Bathhouse, Floor 11

"Nngh" moaned Kanji - the real Kanji, rubbing his eyes in disorientation. Where was he…? What day was it? Hadn't he just been at home?

Looking around the room, confused, he saw himself in a loincloth, carrying Sara passed out bonelessly in 'his' arms. 

"Hey! Who're you?! What didya do ta Sara?!" he all but yelled. 

The other him snickered to Kanji's frustration, "Oooh wouldn't you like to know~" it teased, setting down the girl in a corner of the room. 

"I don't care if you look like me… but if I find out you've touched a hair on 'er head, I'll beat the crap outta you!" he threatened the shadow. 

Anger ignited in Kanji as he argued passionately with his shadow. But before a fight could break out, the investigation team burst through the double set of doors. 

"Kanji!" yelled Yosuke.

Concentration broken, Kanji stuttered, "I-I..."

" Oh, come now, enough with the charade. Isn’t it awful to deceive people? To deceive yourself…? What’s so bad about doing what I want to do?" taunted the shadow.

"That has nothin’ to do with it…" 

"I'm what you really want, aren't I?"

"Hell no!" denied Kanji. 

The shadow had its face screwed up in a scowl before starting to spew out a monologue. "Ohh, how I hate girls…" it hissed, "So arrogant and self-centered! They cry if you get angry, they gossip behind your back, they spread nasty lies… They look at me like some… some disgusting THING and say that I’m a weirdo… Laughing at me, all the while! "You like to sew? What a queer!" "Painting is so not you." "But you’re a guy…" "You don’t act like a guy…" "Why aren’t you manly…?" What does it mean to be "a guy"? What does it mean to be "manly"? Girls are so scary…"

Kanji vehemently denied what his shadow self's words, "I-I ain't scared of 'em!", looking over to Sara, seeing her stir at the argument going on. His fists clenched, in both anger and hope that she wasn't able to hear this.

"And Sara, sweet little Sara…" the shadow continued on, seeing where Kanji was staring. "So kind, yet so tiny, but I've heard the gossip. She'll be poisoned and turned against me soon enough…"

"What the hell?! Keep her outta this!" growled Kanji. 

The shadow ignored him, announcing, "Men are much better… They’d never say those awful, degrading things. Yes, I vastly prefer men…"

" Hell with that! What makes you think you can say that shit with my face…!?"

"Why, you're me...and I'm you...You do know that, don't you?" questioned the shadow. 

"No...Nuh-uh! No way! There's no way in hell that you're me!" argued Kanji.

Shadow kanji chuckled, exploding in a flash of black and dark blue. The real Kanji was thrown back by the explosion and passed out in pain. The singular shadow was readily replaced with three muscular figures that were primed to fight. 

The investigation team, readied themselves by drawing out their weapons. 

The fight was gruelling. 'Nice guy' and 'Tough guy' continually boosted the primary shadow's fighting abilities ontop of poisoning the team. Yukiko had to continually heal the team, round after round, as the shadows pummelled them. Yū switched between several personas just to buff the team and protect them against the heavy-handed attacks. 

Slowly but surely, the four chipped away at the health of the shadows, first taking out the two smaller shadows before shadow Kanji. All throughout, shadow kanji shouted at them, giving them glimpses of his entangled, subverted thoughts. 

Finally, knocking down and beating the shadow, the real Kanji woke up wincing in pain. But the fight was not over. The shadow stood up to approach the group. 

"Such a passionate approach" it hummed. "I think that you three...would make wonderful boyfriends."

Kanji winced at Yosuke's straight ass squawking at the shadow. "Enough...Stop...What the hell are you blabbering about...?" he groaned. 

"I don’t care who… Won’t someone, anyone, please accept me…?" the shadow pleaded.

The squabbling between his shadow and Yosuke continued, making Kanji's headache worse. "I said stop it!" he yelled, lunging forwards to punch his shadow self in the face. "Tch. Can’t believe something like this is inside me…" he said embarrassed that the shadow had said all that to an audience of unknown people. 

"Kanji, you're…" started Yosuke, surprised at the boy's admission.

"Yeah, I know...I've known all this time I had something like you! It ain't a matter of guys or chicks...I'm just scared shitless of being rejected. I'm a total pansy who tries to make everyone hate me." the tough blonde finally admitted. 

"You're not alone." murmured Yū, watching the younger boy carefully as he accepted the shadow and unlocked his Persona. 

Kanji toppled over in exhaustion. "Ngh… Shit…" he groaned. The others moved to help the boy up, "W-wait! Where's Sara? The other me brought her up here!"

Teddie shook his head sadly, "I can't smell anyone else up here… if she was here…. She's gone now."

"Wh-what? I swear she was right there!" Kanji motioned to an empty corner of the room, "S-she was passed out, right in that corner! We gotta look fer her! Ngh-". He fell back onto his knees, the stress and exhaustion of the midnight channel and unlocking his persona weakening his whole body.

"Guys?!" called out Chie, holding out a backpack to Yū, "Isn't this Sara's bag…?"

"See - I wasn't lyin'!" grunted Kanji.

"But where could she have gone?" questioned Yukiko.

"If Teddie can't smell her… does that mean she's no longer in the midnight channel…?" pondered Yosuke. 

Throughout all this, Yū remained silent, gripping his sister's bag tightly, wondering worriedly where she could be. 

"We can't search for her like this….It's not safe." stated Yukiko, seeing everyone's tired and weakened looks, "We'll have to regroup and search tomorrow." 

"Yeah…" said Yosuke softly, "We also gotta get Kanji out of here!"

"Yū… are you going to be okay?" Chie asked the older Narukami softly. Yū shook his head, but slowly moved out with the rest, unable to do more with the battered and beaten state of the team. 

"Don't worry sensei!" Teddie tried to cheer, "I'll continue searching until you come back!"

Yū patted Teddie's head in thanks. 

\-----

Once out of the tv the team regrouped. Kanji already looked better and less pale than he had several moments ago. The team promised to tell the younger boy everything soon, but Kanji made them promise that they'd let him help search for Sara as soon as he was able. 

Dinner that night was strange without Sara there. Yū had to lie to his uncle and cousin about Sara's whereabouts. He concocted story about Sara having gone for a sleepover at a friend's house for the next couple days. Dojima had looked at Yū suspiciously, his detective's intuition tingling, but sighed and let it slide, happy that Sara was finally making friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so we're finally in canon mode - it only took…. 15/16 chapters. 
> 
> Sorry I'm not fantastic at writing fighting scenes 😬
> 
> I always wondered how the kidnappees (Kanji, Yukiko, Rise etc.) survived for more than two weeks in the midnight channel without there being food and water… 'cos it's not realistically possible - hence all the emergency food & water that Sara brings with her before falling into the TV and entering the Midnight Channel.


	17. The Search for Sara Starts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The investigation team tries to figure out what happened to Sara and where she is now, whilst keeping her disappearance a secret and letting Kanji recover.

#### May 20, 2011

##### Afterschool

Covering up Sara's disappearance had involved a lot of moving pieces. While Dojima and Nanako were under the assumption that Sara was sleeping over at a friend's place for the next couple nights, Yū also had to forge notes for the school office, notifying them that Sara was at home sick, so that they didn't call Dojima about her lack of school attendance. He also had to lie to Ayane, Sara's friend, who he knew through the school band, so that she didn’t try coming around to their house to give Sara all the work that she was missing out on.

Kanji was still resting at home, still exhausted from the stress of the Midnight Channel. But the rest of the investigation team met up at Junes to figure out what the hell was going on. 

"Okay… so, what do we know so far?" said Yosuke, starting their meeting. 

"Well… Kanji-kun was kidnapped on the May 17… The next day we were trying to find leads on Kanji… and then the day after that we went to go save him…" Chie recounted. "Boy, were we lucky to manage to rescue him in one day!"

"So, does that mean the killer also kidnapped Sara during that time…?" pondered Yukiko, "She was on the other side when we were in the bathhouse…"

Yū shook his head, "Sara was home on the 18th, which means she must've been taken sometime on the 19th when we went into the TV."

"Woah! Does that mean the killer grabbed her in broad daylight?" exclaimed Yosuke, "I'm pretty sure I saw her in school during the day!" 

The four teens looked at the ground in frustration. "We did see her on the seventh floor of the bathhouse right?" asked Chie, getting nods from the others. "But then… Teddie said he couldn't smell her when we were on the eleventh floor… Does that mean she's lost somewhere on the other side?"

"If she's trapped on the other side, that means she'll probably get into trouble once the fog sets in too…" said Yukiko cautiously.

"Just when we thought that we'd saved the next victim, Sara gets trapped in this mess too!" Yosuke growled angrily, "And Yū, you wanted to keep her out of all this… We gotta find her before it's too late!" 

The girls hummed in agreement. "I can only see two options at the moment, we can either ask around town and try to retrace Sara's steps before she was kidnapped… or we can go back into the TV to track her down - hopefully Teddie's got a lead for us…" Yukiko suggested. 

"What do you think Yū?" asked Chie. 

The three teens looked at Yū, their leader expectantly. "Let's find out some information out in town first, then we can try searching the TV" he decided with finality. 

\-----

The four second-years spent the afternoon running around town, asking after Sara and her usual habits. They started at the school, first with her classmates and then any students nearby. 

_Oh.. Her? I think she's in the sewing club?_  
_Doesn't she hang around that scary biker guy? The one with all the piercings?_  
_I see her hang around with Ayane… She's a pretty quiet one_  
_Sara? Oh, yeah! The new first year! She's cute, don'tcha think?_  
_I see her sometimes go grocery shopping at Junes?_  
_Isn't she dating that kid that's part of the biker gang?_  
_My mum told me she hangs around Tatsumi Textiles quite a bit…._

Not finding anything substantial, the team moved onto Samegawa Flood Plain. 

_Sara-chan? Oh, I know her, she's Nanako-chan's big sis! She's so pretty!_  
_Silver hair…? Hmmm…. I think I see her with a little girl sometimes?_  
_A student….? I'm a bit too old to know any students nowadays…_

Again, not finding anything useful, they moved on to the Central Shopping District. 

_Nope… sorry I don’t know who you're looking for_  
_She comes by here every so often, usually with a little girl?_  
_We had someone like that come by the other day, with a boy who had bleached blonde hair… I think they were on a date._  
_Yeah, I see her at the crafting classes that Tatsumi textiles puts on! She's really good!_  
_A girl with silver hair? I see her at the shrine sometimes._

Outside Tatsumi Textiles, the investigation team regrouped.

"Well… I didn't really find anything interesting…" said Chie.

"Yeah - practically no one saw her yesterday after school… weird right?" asked Yosuke.

"All I kept hearing is how she spends a lot of time with Kanji and at Tatsumi textiles." stated Yukiko, "Do you think we should ask Kanji about her?" 

Yū shook his head. Kanji would need all the rest he could get if he wanted to help find Sara. 

"Well… I guess we could try the TV? We've still got a couple hours before it's night falls…" offered Yosuke.

"Yeah.. We could see if Teddie has any leads!" said Chie, trying to cheer their leader up. 

\-----

The strange sensation of entering the TV overcame the four students as they spotted the familiar blue, red and white bear. 

"Teddie!" shouted Yukiko, waving to grab his attention. 

"Hi guys!" Teddie greeted, "You're back so soon!" 

"Do you have any leads on Sara?" asked Yū worriedly.

"N-no!" the bear wailed, "I think there's something wrong with my nose!"

"What do you mean there's something wrong with your nose?" Yosuke demanded.

"W-well… When we were in that room with Kanji and Sara, I could smell her fine, but after that top floor, nada!" Teddie tried to explain apologetically, "I might need some more clues to help sniff her out… I'm sorry…"

Yū recounted to Teddie everything he knew about Sara - she likes to sow and do other artsy activities, she likes the colour blue, she enjoys cooking, wants to be a fashion designer, hates gossip, loves her cousin Nanako. 

"Nnnghhh! I'm sorry sensei… I can't sense anything!" wailed Teddie, comic tears flailing out of his glossy eyes.

"I'm sorry Yū…. We might need to wait for Kanji to recover to get more clues, since he seems to be the closest to Sara…" commented Yukiko. 

"Wait!" Chie interrupted, trying to cheer their silver-haired leader up, "What did you do with her bag? The one I handed to you yesterday! Maybe there's some clues there?"

"Oh, yeah. The backpack! I totally forgot about that - thanks Chie!" cheered Yosuke. 

Yū remained quiet, silently frustrated that they - he - couldn't do more to find his sister. 

"Yū, I'm sorry, it looks like we'll have to wait till tomorrow to find out anything else…" apologised Yukiko after seeing the distress on his face. Yosuke and Chie clasped their leader on the back, trying to give some comfort to the teen.

\-----

#### May 21, 2011

##### Afterschool

School that day couldn't have finished quicker. The investigation team met at Junes once again, with Yū bringing their only clue so far. 

"You only brought a notebook…?" questioned Yosuke. 

Yū nodded, "It was the only abnormal thing in there, the rest was water bottles, her school uniform and snacks…"

"Her school uniform?" asked Chie.

Yukiko interrupted, "You think she got changed after school… and that's why no one saw her that day?"

"It seems so…" replied Yū before continuing, "But looking through her notebook… It looks like we might've been wrong about the kidnapper…"

"What?" exclaimed Chie, "Lemme see!"

The two girls glanced through the blue notebook, seeing Sara's extensive notes on their admittedly weird and suspicious behaviour. 

"Wow… she really noticed everything over the last month…" commented Yukiko, continuing to flip through the pages, "She even took note of us frequenting the electronics section… You think she might have followed us into the TV…?"

"But, she couldn't have right?" said Yosuke, "Chie and I couldn't get in the first time until we went through with Yū."

"What if she was just behind us?" offered Chie.

"Wouldn't we have seen her when we walked from the entrance to the bathhouse though?" argued Yosuke

"One thing I've found weird each time we're on the other side is that time seems to work a bit differently?" commented Yukiko, "It feels like we spend hours defeating channels but we always manage to get back just before dinner."

"Oh yeah - I didn't even notice, I was always super tired after being inside" said Chie, amazed at her best friend. 

Whilst the three rambunctious second-years debated hotly amongst one another, Yū stewed inside. Was he right to keep Sara in the dark like he had? Would things have happened differently if he'd not hidden away the weird happenings in his life upon living in this town? 

He shook his head of the 'what-ifs' and 'buts'. Anything he'd been able to offer Teddie about Sara hadn't worked. His sister needed help and he was no longer the only one who was capable of doing so. Silently, Yū promised to find her as quick as possible, and make amends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh this is just filler, but also proves a bit of a point that Kanji at this point knows more about Sara's 'real self' than Yū thinks that he does.
> 
> This chapter, with the next couple are slightly shorter chapters, mostly because I've been busy with work and haven't had a huge amount of time to write, but also need a bit more time to flesh out where I'm going with this. 
> 
> On a more positive note though, I finished replaying Persona 4 and have some good ideas bouncing around my head for later storyline arcs.


	18. Below the Surface

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back into the Midnight channel goes the investigation team, plus Kanji, on a mission to find Sara.

#### May 22, 2011

##### Daytime

Sunday had crept up on the investigation team. With no headway in finding out that Kanji's recovery was going to be the key to being able to find Sara's location in the depths of the Midnight Channel. Time was running out, and soon Yū and Sara's uncle would be suspicious from more of the white lies that he had been spouting to keep him off their trail. 

The investigation team had decided unanimously to meet infront of Tatsumi Textiles to see if Kanji had recovered just enough to get some clues out of him. 

"Goooood Mornin'~" cheered Yousuke, in an attempt to cheer up the rest of the squad. His greeting was received by Yū who followed with a solemn nod. 

"Hey guys!" called Yukiko, "I called Kanji-kun's mother, it looks like he's up and about - enough for us to ask him some questions…"

The quartet of second-years marched in, greeting Tatsumi-san and asking if they could talk to Kanji for a bit about Sara. 

"Oh, Sara-chan! She's your sister?" trilled the elderly woman with a grin. "She's such a sweet girl, always checking in on me and taking care of my boy! I don't think I've seen him ever work so hard you know?" gossiped Tatsumi-san. 

Upon hearing his mother talk about him to a bunch of strangers, Kanji walked into the display room of the textiles shop.

"Oh, it's you." he said dumbly, eyes still looking tired. 

"Kanji-" Tatsumi-san interrupted. "Sara-chan's brother and his friends would like to talk to you! I hope you haven't been doing anything indecent towards her, I would very much like to keep her as my future daughter-in-law!" she teased mercilessly. 

"Uuh-" grumbled Kanji, as a blush rose to his cheeks. "Let's go outside!" he all but demanded before storming out with a flourish of his leather jacket. 

As soon as the doors of the shop closed, Kanji glared at the investigation team, all but growling "Didya find her?" 

His demand was met by a bunch of 'umms' and 'uhhs'. 

"Well, didya or didya not?! It's a simple answer!"

"Well.. Kanji-kun" started Yukiko, "We might need you help with that…"

"Yeah?! Let's go!" Kanji jumped at the chance.

"Uhhh… Kanji… we haven't told you where _to go_ yet…" commented Yousuke, sweatdropping at the underclassman's enthusiam. 

"Oh… Uh - Well hurry up! We ain't got all day!" rebounded the blonde. 

\-----

##### Junes, Electronics Department

"So uh… you just hop right in?" questioned Kanji who looked skeptically at the other four seniors who nodded seriously. "Hmm… well, okay". 

Kanji dove right into the TV without a second thought, his mind solely focused on one goal - finding and rescuing Sara. Whatever bastard had spirited her away, you bet he'd find 'em and pummel 'em to the ground. 

With a tug behind his belly button, and then the feeling of slipping through water, Kanji opened his eyes to see the misty TV studio that made up the entrance to the Midnight Channel.

"Uhh…" he looked dumbfounded, not paying attention to the second-years appearing behind him. 

"Hey Teddie!" greeted Chie, waving to the blue bear standing in the corner who jumped, startled by the appearance of the humans he'd begun to love. 

The Yasogami-high second-years happily huddled around the blue bear, greeting him enthusiastically. 

"Did you find any clues?" questioned Teddie.

"Whadda ya mean clues?" interrupted Kanji, anxious to get moving already. 

"He's gotta be the biggest clue to finding Sara" pointed out Chie bluntly. "We heard all about you and your _secret romance_ with _Sara-chan _" she teased.__

__Kanji responded by blushing and spluttering, "I-it's not like that!". His eyes flickered to the other silver-ette who he now knew to be Sara's older brother. "I w-would never!"_ _

__"What you're saying she's not good enough for you?" questioned Yū, an unhappy frown pinned on his face._ _

__"N-no! If anythin' it’s the opposite!" Kanji objected, "She's way too good fer me!"_ _

__"What?" the four second-years asked, confused._ _

__"S-sara…. She's way too good for me." the blonde boy said sadly, "Yeah, I like her… but… I see tha' way all those other guys at school look at and talk about her. She _could_ have any guy she wants, I doubt she'd want to go fer a guy like me…"_ _

__"Oh.. Kanji" sighed Yukiko sadly._ _

__"Dude…" empathised Yousuke, "Y'know… We did our research, and I don't think any of that is really true. A buncha people in town already _thinks_ you two are dating." Yousuke took a breath before continuing to console the blonde, "Sure, the guys at school talk about her, but they don't really know her - half the stuff they said to us was just about how cute she looked, y'know, surface level stuff."_ _

__"B-but…" Kanji tried to refute._ _

__"My sister has always hated having people around her that were fake." said Yū suddenly, all eyes turning to the stoic silver-ette, "The fact that she happily spends so much time with you both in and out of school, and even stumbled her way into the Midnight Channel just to find you… says a lot." He hesitated saying this, but sighed and continued, "S-she… trusts you, probably a lot more than she trusts me right now."_ _

__"I see…" mumbled Kanji, reflecting on what had been said to him._ _

__"Ummm… guys?" asked Teddie, interrupting the moment that they all just had, "I'm picking up a faint scent! But I need one more clue to really hone in on it!" The bear turned to Kanji inquisitively, "So… what's Sara _really_ like? Any dark secrets of hers you know about?"_ _

__"W-what? I-I can't do that!"_ _

__"OooOoOh so you do know something! C'mon spill the beans! I wanna know too! Maybe it'll be a good clue!"_ _

__"C'mon Kanji, you're our only hope right now!" begged Yousuke alongside Teddie._ _

__"A-alright… uh…" Kanji paused, thinking over his time with Sara, "She's actually really scared…. That people will hate her if she says how she really feels about things… But she also really wants good friends to admit things to…" He took a deep breath and continued, "She's shyed away from a lot of people, because she thinks she'll be too fake… In fact, I think she doubts herself too much, and her doubt makes her isolate herself from and mistrust the people who do care about her"_ _

__"Hnnnghghghhh" sniffed Teddie, picking up the scent of plum blossoms. He zoomed away following the sweet scent. The high schoolers trailing behind him through the fog of the Midnight channel._ _

__"Hey… how come we're back at the bathhouse?" questioned Yousuke, looking extremely confused._ _

__"This is where the smell leads!" assured Teddie._ _

__"Well… If Teddie's sure, then this must be the place right?" said Yukiko trying to cheer up Teddie, despite also having doubts herself._ _

__The highschoolers walked back into the Steamy Bathhouse, weapons on standby._ _

__"Hey! What's that?" pointed out Chie. A set of wooden stairs lay ahead of them, yet they lead downwards instead of upwards._ _

__"We've never seen a set of stairs go _down_ before" cautioned Yosuke, "Does that mean we're going the right way…?"_ _

__Yū fronted the group, and lead them confidently down below the Bathhouse. The light became less warm, and more sterile and blue. The wooden flooring and walls gave way to pure white vinyl matting, almost like a hospital._ _

__"Huh…? Is it just me or does this look like a hospital?" questioned Yukiko, as the team made their way further inwards._ _

__"Urgh… I hate hospitals…" muttered Kanji, who looked cautiously around them._ _

__"Why aren't there any shadows…?" asked Chie, befuddled at the whole situation. The team moved even deeper into the hospital._ _

__Finding a barred door, Yū pushed it open, seeing a blinding white room made of padded walls, and then a shadow lept at them, initiating a fight. The team, steadied their weapons and used an amalgamation of physical and magical attacks to defeat the shadow that had snuck up on them._ _

__As soon as the shadow was felled, a sound resounded through the hallways, via some sort of PA system._ _

__Ding-dong, "A kind reminder to our patient to please refrain from attacking others out of anger, it is in your best interest to comply and become model citizens!" a woman's voice sounded over the speaker._ _

__"W-what is this…?" stuttered Yukiko._ _

__"C'mon we gotta get to the bottom of this" growled Kanji._ _

__Onwards went the team, making their way through the twisted and winding hallways._ _

__\----_ _

__Sara woke up startled. She was warm, but not in her bed, but strapped to a chair in a pure white room._ _

__"W-what…. W-where?" she mumbled, coughing at how dry her throat felt._ _

__"Hmmmm… you're awake!" crooned a voice._ _

__She lifted her head slowly, to find the source of the voice. It was herself? Why was the other Sara dressed in an all-too-tight nurse's gown? She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out._ _

__"Shhhhh…." the nurse shushed, "I'm here to make you feel better." The clacking of shoes on the ground followed the nurse version of Sara as it moved to peer down at the real one._ _

__"K-kanji? Where's Kanji?" Sara managed to get out as she struggled against the restraints._ _

__"Oh that _boy_ " gritted out the nurse. "He won't bother you anymore!" The shadow hummed, "I'll take care of everything! You won't feel a thiiing once it's all done!"_ _

__Sara could feel her head spinning. Her vision blurred and then it was dark._ _

__\-----_ _

#### May ??, 2011

____

##### The Isolation Ward

__Mumuring and sounds could be made out, but nothing made real sense. Like a blanket of fog draped over her consciousness. It was kind of like when you were slowly waking up from a dream state… Calming and blissful._ _

__In the distance there seemed to be some sort of ruckus, going by the muffled noise of shouting and fighting. Her head felt… fluffy, and her eyes glued shut with sleep…. Mmmm… sleep… blissful ignorance… that sounded nice._ _

__"Sara!" shouted a voice. It sounded sort of familiar. "We're coming! Just hang on a little bit longer!"_ _

__Then silence again. She drifted back to sleep._ _

__Her state of sleep was blissful. No anxiety, no stress, no pressure. But the peace was interrupted again by muffled noises. She couldn't make out what was being said. But it sounded like an argument. And then there was silence._ _

__The silence and the noises were the only two things she could remember. Sleep was periodically interrupted by the noise, and then the cycled repeated. Until it didn't._ _

__There was a loud 'BANG', like a set of heavy doors slamming open. It was followed by a sigh of relief from a male voice, "Thank God we finally found you!"._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Random note, Sara (冴咲), means 'vivid blossom'.


	19. The Isolation Ward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara's found. A boss shadow battle ensues.

##### The Isolation Ward

The Investigation Team had spent a solid week navigating through the windy hallways of Sara's dungeon, which had been dubbed, 'The Isolation Ward'. The white walls, padded rooms with furniture that had restraints attached to them, they were pretty sure it was supposed to be reminiscent of either an isolation ward of a prison or of a psych ward. Neither were good signs. 

"Man…. I never thought that someone as cute as Yū's sister could have this much of a messed up secret like this…" confessed Yosuke suddenly.

"Hey!" he exclaimed as someone smacked his head real hard in retaliation. 

"Don't talk about Sara like that!" Kanji all but roared, "There ain't one thing messed up about her!"

"Yeah, yeah… I geddit, you're like all head over heels for her and all that…" hummed the brunette, "But you gotta admit, this is pretty dark stuff for a 15 year old. 

"You don't know her like I do." said Kanji sadly. 

Yū grimaced at the unfolding conversation, placing a comforting hand on Kanji's shoulder in thanks.

"Hey guys, we have an incoming!" shouted Chie.

"Right!" responded the boys together, gearing up to take down the foe that lay ahead. 

\-----

Down some more floors of the Isolation Ward, the team came across a large spacious annex. At its centre stood a figure dressed in a pale blue nurse's dress, their silver hair in an uptight bun and a wooden clipboard in hand.

"Sara-chan?" questioned Yukiko, the first to spot her. 

"Hmmm?" turned the nurse, an innocent look painted across a familiar face.

The teens gasped seeing the piercing golden-yellow eyes looking back at them. 

"Y-you're not Sara!" blurted out Kanji. 

The nurse smirked, "Well… hello there handsome" she crooned seductively. 

"W-what!" the blond retorted. 

"Mmmm… what a fine specimen…" the nurse licked her lips, "How about you let me restrain you so you can't leave?" 

"Hey! What gives!" shouted Yosuke, uncomfortable with the whole situation. 

"Oh, it looks like we have company…" muttered the nurse. "Welcome to the Isolation ward. I suspect you're here to visit a patient?" she asked innocently. 

"Yeah, where's Sara-chan?" demanded Yosuke. The others nodding their heads in agreement. 

"Ah, patient zero… She's our _special_ patient." hummed the nurse nonchalantly. 

"Special case?" queried Yukiko. 

"Mmm… Yes. Our special patients, require extra care and attention…" recited the nurse, "I'm afraid she isn't taking visitors at the moment, she's getting prepared for her therapy session. Well, bye now!"

The nurse turned, walking away calmly. The clack of her heels on the vinyl echoing, as the shadows flooded in to receive the ill-timed guests. The investigation team had no other choice but to fight on and delve further into the white-walled dungeon. 

\-----

The investigation team plus Kanji repeated the cycle of fighting, exploring and recovering for days upon days. The white-walled dungeon driving them up the walls as each time they visited, the layout would seem to shift. 

Now reaching nine floors in, they again stumbled across Sara's shadow, still dressed as a nurse this time reading what looked to be patient files, but still seemingly giving zero shits about the teens before her. 

"Humph… It's you five again." huffed the nurse, "Can't you just leave me be? I have a job to do you know?"

"What is it you plan to do to Sara?!" yelled Chie, the chaoticness of the dungeon irritating her. 

"Hmmm… Well, that's confidential information, you see…" the nurse said calmly, "Unless you're a direct guardian or partner, I can't let you know that sort of information."

"W-what if I'm her brother?" questioned Yū.

"Nope, that doesn't change anything." she responded in a no-nonsense way. 

"I-I'm her boyfriend!" tried Kanji. 

The nurse smirked. "Nice try, big guy. Patient zero's files already say that she doesn't have anyone - no partner, no guardian. Well… Bye bye now!" 

Sara's shadow-self sauntered off further down the white hallways. The team was again inundated with shadows, this time they had creepy masks that looked to be implanted onto their faces. The mask made them look like they had a 'Mona Lisa smile' on them. 

"Urghhh, this is so creepy!" exclaimed Chie, disliking the strange sight. 

"Guys! It looks like these shadows aren't able to be affected by status ailments!" exclaimed Teddie, sensing something off about the approaching hoarde of shadows, "I-I've never seen anything like this before!"

The teens gritted their teeth, expecting the worst but still jumping to the fray. Attacks both magical and physical were tossed from both sides, but the investigation team reigned victorious after a gruelling battle. And onwards they went into the labyrinth. 

\-----

After a solid 5 days of effort grinding through the windy halls of the Isolation Ward, the team made it to a set of barred double doors. 

"This feels like _it_!" announced Teddie, "I think Sara-chan's just behind here!"

"Urgghh, finally!" groaned Chie, "I'm exhausted…" 

"Whadda you waitin' for?" growled Kanji, "Let's bust through!" 

The team needed no prodding, they pushed the doors forcefully opening them with a resounding 'BANG!'. Sara jolted awake at the sound. 

"Thank God we finally found you!" sighed Yū, relieved at seeing Sara after the hellish week they'd been through. 

Sara, the real Sara was still restrained to a chair at the centre of the room. A strange metal contraption hung ominously above her. Directly above her head was what appeared to be a metal bowl or hat with a leather strap and buckle to attach it to someone's head. Kanji quickly ran to Sara, undoing the restraints and holding her lax body upright. 

"Well, well, well… You did make it after all…" hummed Sara's voice, although it sounded distorted. Sara's shadow-self appeared in the room, a sinister but serene smile adorning her face. "I thought for sure, you'd all get eaten up by the other residents of this place, and then I'd be all alone again…" 

"W-who are you?" stuttered Sara, very confused at everything that was happening at that moment. "Why do you look like me? Where are we?"

"Don't you remember?" questioned her shadow. "I _am_ you." announced the shadow, "And here, in this Isolation Ward… you're here to undergo your therapy session."

"Huh? Therapy?" interjected Sara, "Why? I don't understand…" 

"Mmmm… This experimental therapy session is designed to _fix_ those pesky emotions of yours. You don't need them anymore right?" the shadow taunted, "And after that we'll fix that personality so that you'll be the perfect lady your parents always expected you to be." 

"What?" shouted the team, hearing the outrageous plan that shadow wanted to put into motion.

"Ohohoho - don't you know?" chucked the shadow, "It's always been, don't do this, don't do that - if you're not the perfect lady, then all your friends will leave you. No one will like you if you really speak what's on your mind."

"T-that's not true!" denied Kanji, "Sara's my best friend, I'd never leave her!"

"Oh how sweet." deadpanned the shadow, turning to the blonde. "You say that now, but really… _We_ both know that you'll leave us behind. Everyone always does. First it was our friends, then our parents, then even our _brother_ " the shadow spat out, "No one cares what we think or want or _feel_ , we're just the one to pick up the pieces once everything is done and move on as if nothing is wrong with us."

The shadow cackled manically, "BUT - it would _all_ be fixed once we get rid of those emotions and reprogram ourselves. Then we can't hurt anymore." 

"N-no!" stuttered out Sara, "That's not true…" 

"Sara-chan…" muttered Teddie sadly. 

"I'm not like that!" she objected, before shouting out "Y-you're wrong… You're not me at all!" 

The shadow Sara burst outwards in flare of blue and black, in the process flinging back Sara as the investigation team braced themselves for a fight. 

The shadow cackled manically, "Ahahaha! You really think you can stop me?!"

"Yeah, 'course we will!" Kanji yelled in response, "And we'll save Sara in the process!" 

"Let's go!" encouraged Yū, leaping into the fray.

From the shroud of blue and black, Sara's ginormous shadow appeared in a different form. A female figure rose upwards, her full form stretched out to tower over the investigation team. She was wrapped in mottled grey and black bandages which floated menacingly around her, sharp sewing pins stuck into the fabric swathed body. Gangly limbs and clawed hands of the wraith-like figure readied itself to attack and defend itself.

Yosuke was the first to attack the shadow with wind-magic, "Garu!" he yelled, his persona flinging forwards a gust of wind.

The shadow remained wholly unaffected. 

"Huh? How come my attack didn't work?" the brunette asked, confused. 

"It looks like it's immune to wind attacks!" shouted Teddie, informing the team of what he'd learnt. 

Chie and Yukiko took turns to face the shadow using physical and fire attacks respectively, with very little progress. 

"Hey, it looks like our attack aren't affecting it!" gasped Chie. 

In the hesitation, the shadow lunged forwards summoning the sewing pins from its back to volley them in a heavy physical attack against the team. The team grunting in pain as the pins left residual poison, weakening those who were struck by the attack. 

"Urgh…" groaned Yū, reacting by summoning one of his many personas to heal the team from the poison.

"Alright… My turn!" announced Kanji, stepping forwards to summon his persona, "Come, Take-Mikazuchi!"  
The persona summoned a bolt of lightning to strike the shadow. The shadow recoiled back and looked angry after being struck by the bright bolt. 

"Hey! That looked like it worked!" Yukiko said, looking surprised. 

"Do it again!" yelled Teddie. 

The team continued to buff their attack and hit the shadow with lightning attacks, slowly chipping away at the shadow's health. 

"I think we've got this!" cheered Chie, happy that the battle was going so well. 

The shadow cackled in response, "Eheheh… You think I don't have a trick up my sleeve? You really think I'd want to return to being hurt again and again?" Shadow Sara shot another volley of pins towards the team, this time using 'life drain' to recover her health. "If you're so determined to 'save' me, I'll drag you down in my despair." laughed the shadow. 

The battle continued on, again and again, the shadow's health was chipped away at once Yū started to contribute to the onslaught of lightning-based attacks. Finally, Kanji summoned his persona to shoot forth one last bolt of lightning, knocking Shadow Sara flat, returning her to the nurse form. 

"Urgh… Why?" whimpered the shadow, "I just don't want to hurt anymore! I-I… don't want to be lonely anymore…" She sobbed, "It hurts so much… W-what am I doing wrong…?”

Shakily, Sara got up from where she had been knocked over, and slowly approached her shadow giving it a gentle hug. “I’m sorry…”she whispered empathetically, “I’ve been bottling all this up for some time, haven’t I?” The shadow gave a sad nod, and Sara continued, “I’ll do better this time… We have people who obviously care now - see Kanji, Yū and even Hanamura-san, Amagi-san and Sakonaka-san came to rescue us when we didn’t even know we needed saving…”

Smiling back at her, the shadow nodded, melting away in a shimmer of light, briefly giving a flash of its true form, a female figure swathed in a ethereal flowing white kimono. The obi of the kimono a bright red, pinned at the back by large sewing pins. 

“Ngh..” groaned Sara in exhaustion, swaying to the side out of pure exhaustion. 

“Sara!” gasped Kanji, moving forwards to catch her before she could fall, cradling her in his arms softly. 

“Kanji…” she mumbled, grinning weakly, “I thought I was supposed’ta be saving you…”

“Y-you idiot!” came the reply from the blonde, with no malice behind it. 

“C’mon we should get her out of here!” announced Yousuke, seeing the rest of the team just as exhausted after the week they had. The team quickly agreed, getting out of the Midnight Channel, Kanji carrying the exhausted Sara all the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated a little earlier than I usually do (general update schedule is every Monday & Thursday AEDT), mostly 'cos I've had a super long week and this took an awful amount of time to write. But hopefully this all kinda makes sense?
> 
> I had to go back and reread a bunch of older chapters to make sure things were mostly continuous. But in the end, shadows are hugely distorted versions of the character's inner feelings. So, I suppose not all of it really needs to make sense.
> 
> This wasn’t my favourite chapter to write, purely because I felt like there were a lot of cannonical tropes that needed to be upheld, plus details the needed to be mentioned to keep continuity. 
> 
> Again a big thank you to all the readers out there - I never thought I'd get so many people reading & interacting with this fic, much less on a consistent level.
> 
> Have a good week everyone!


	20. Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara recovers from the Midnight channel ordeal and has much needed dnm's with Yū and Kanji. Plus small cute cameos from our favourite cousin, Nanako and some needed Kanji-Sara fluff!

#### May 28, 2011

##### Morning

A gentle breeze brushed against her face, the soft light of the morning sun caressing her cheek as her eyes slowly fluttered awake. Her muscles groaned with exhaustion as she tried to get up from the secure warmth of her futon. 

"Ah! Sara-nee! You're awake!" exclaimed Nanako, scrambling to her cousin's side, "I'll get nii-chan!"

Sara gave up trying to get out of bed and stayed stuck under the thick futon blanket. 

"Sara…" sighed Yū, entering the shared room, "You're okay…"

"Yū?" rasped Sara, "What happened…?" 

"I- We'll explain everything soon, okay? Just… rest and get better soon okay?" said her brother softly, gently tucking in the younger Narukami. 

"Nee-chan! I made soup for you!" called out Nanako, "Yū-nii-chan told me you're sick!"

"Thanks Nanako! Take your time bringing it up!" replied Yū on behalf of Sara. He turned to his sister, mentioning, "I told her you've been sick at a friend's house, and only been well enough to come back home now… I've been letting school know you've been sick, and as for Uncle Dojima…. We were lucky that he's been so busy at work that he hasn't been home…" 

Sara processed the new information, nodding that she understood. "Yū… is Kanji okay? He's definitely okay, right?" 

Yū nodded, smiling reassuringly, "He's fine… just exhausted like you." The older silver-ette sighed, "Sara… I-I'm so sorry that I kept this all from you… I thought I was protecting you from everything that was going on, and that it would be better with less people involved… But all that resulted from this was you getting into trouble." The two siblings held each other's hands tightly. "Sara… I promise - no more secrets. Once you get better, I'll catch you up on everything and I promise I won't ever leave you behind or let you be lonely ever again!" he promised before reminding his sister, "Just remember… I'm here for you, whenever and wherever you are. You just need to say the word." 

The younger of the two, smiled softly, tearing up at her brother's reassurance. "Thank you, Yū… I'm so sorry I didn't say anything earlier… A-after we moved here… You just fit in so easily, and I figured I'd just get in the way of all that… But I promise from now on, I'm going to be true to what I really feel and say what's really on my mind." She took a breath and continued on, "I know for sure now I have you, Kanji, Satonaka-san, Amagi-san, and Hanamura-san to depend on… Just give me sometime and lots of reminders along the way, okay?"

Yū nodded. The two siblings felt closer than they had been in a long time. 

"Sara-nee!" called out Nanako as she entered the room, holding a small tray of food, "Here's your miso soup with tofu, and steamed rice with some furikake! I also made your favourite green tea! You have to get better soon, okay?"

Sara grinned at her cousin, feeling warm with the amount of care and love that radiated through the room. 

\-----

#### May 29, 2011

##### Midday

Sara had slept the Saturday yesterday, and only woke up late morning on the Sunday. Feeling groggy, tired and greasy, she decided to finally get out of bed and attempt to have a bath. Groaning as her exhausted muscles creaked and protested at her movement, she stumbled into the bathroom and warmed the water. Fumbling around in the drawers to find her secret stash of blossom-scented bath salts and facemasks.

The bathroom was soon full of steamy and the scent of blossoms. Sara lowered herself into the bathtub, sighing out of relief as the warm water soothed her aching muscles and the steam cleansed her sinuses. She leaned her neck back onto the lip of the bathtub, and felt the exhaustion simply melt away. Enjoying the peace and quiet of her warm bath, Sara dozed off. 

"Sara-nee?" called Nanako through the closed wooden door of the bathroom, waking Sara, "Someone called Tatsumi-san called you and said he's bringing food over for you sometime soon!"

"Okay, thanks Nanako!" thanked Sara, groggily. "I'll be done with my bath soon!"

Fumbling around with her shampoo and conditioner, Sara managed to wash and rinse her long silver locks by herself. Wrapping herself up in her fuzzy bathrobe and her hair up in a fluffy towel, she got to work to make herself semi-presentable. Pulling out her comfiest pair of sweatpants and a baggy hoodie to change into and then dry her hair.

Once downstairs she was handed a warm cup of greentea by Nanako and curled up on the living room couch, gently dozing off to the sound of Nanako's Sunday cartoons. 

At some point she heard Nanako got up to answer a knock at the front door before tottering back to ask Sara if her friend Tatsumi-san was a boy with blonde hair and then going back to open the door for the boy.

"Uh… hi?" came Kanji's confused voice seeing Nanako open the door for him.

"You're Tatsumi-san, right? Sara-nee's friend?" questioned Nanako. 

"Yeah… You're her cousin? The one who answered my phone call?" 

Nanako nodded, motioning for him to come inside. "Sara-nee is on the living room couch… Just be quiet… I think she's half asleep… " She left shortly after to get groceries for the week. 

The tall blonde walked into the living room cautiously, setting down the boxes of food he had brought over to the Dojima household on the tea table. He crouched down in front of his friend, gently brushing away some of the stray hairs from her face. He smiled softly as her eyes fluttered awake.

"Hey…" he whispered. 

"Kanji?" 

"You feelin' better?"

Sara hummed, moving to hug her friend tightly. "Yeah… I'm glad you're alright…" she murmured into his shoulder. The warmth of his body was reassuring, making her feel as if everything was okay. 

"Yer such an idiot…" mumbled Kanji into Sara's hair, tightening his grip slightly, to move them back onto the couch. "I-I was so worried when they told me you went missin' trying to find me…" 

"I didn't mean to… I don't even really remember what happened - it's a bit of a blur…" she said, "But I don't regret going to look for you… I'm just sorry you had to see all that…." 

Kanji didn't reply and just took in the moment - the sweet scent of blossoms that was purely Sara, the warmth from their hug, the fit of Sara into the crook of his neck. "Y'know…" he started, "I don't regret seeing all that… Remember how we had that talk up on the hill?" Sara nodded. Kanji continued, "You don't have 'ta hide what you feel, or what 'yer thinking… at least not 'round me. I won't leave and I couldn't ever hate you, nothin' you do or say will change that."

Sara hands tightened their hold on Kanji's jacket, the soft leather bunching up in her small hands. She could feel her eyes watering, as a mix of relief and joy flooded her small body. "Thank you…" she whispered. 

Kanji just softly hummed in reply, stroking her head as she softly sobbed into his shoulder. Both teens could feel their hearts grow just a little bit bigger as the walls that surrounded them became dust in the presence of one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Might see some more skipping around in the timeline from now on, to mostly hit on the major plot point with minor omake/filler chapters here and there. 
> 
> Small note from the previous chapter, I thought it would be kinda cool to make Sara's persona's weakness be the base element of the two people who she was closest to - Kanji and Yū (Izangi, his first persona, being able to use electric skills). And that's supposed to be somewhat reflective of how close their relationships are (or will be 😉)


	21. Return to School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanji and Sara are back to school. The plot thickens (kinda)!

#### June 6, 2011

##### Yasogami High School

Somehow, despite having a few good days here and there, it took a whole extra week for both Sara and Kanji to recover enough to go back to school. The school being told that both of them had been very sick with an illness that required them to have time off to recover fully. 

Dojima had found out about Sara being sick shortly after she had been rescued from the Midnight channel, and managed to take some more time off to help Yū and Nanako around the house so that Sara could recover. 

The extra week hadn't been all bad. Occasionally when they had good days, Tatsumi-san would drop Kanji off to the Dojima household so that they could rest up in the comfort of each other's company or when she had to attend to business. The two could usually be found wrapped up in blankets together on the living room couch with a huge pot of tea and a box of carefully peeled and cute fruit within reach. It had become almost a common occurrence at this point to come home to see the two teens dozing off dozing off on one another. 

Nanako was quick to warm up to the tall blonde boy once Sara had mentioned offhandedly that Kanji was the one who had made her favourite pink platypus doll. Kanji, upon seeing the small girl's love for the toy, swiftly promised that once he had recovered he'd make some outfits for Nanako to dress her platypus into. 

But after some three weeks of missing school, Sara was dreading how much work she'd have to catch up on. 

"Sara!" called out Ayane, the small black haired girl ran towards her friend, "I was so worried! You're all better now, right? I made notes for you and Kanji-kun!" 

"Ayane, you're a lifesaver!" cheered Sara brightly, "Kanji and I definitely owe you big time!" 

"A-ah! It's okay! You're my friend, and I'm sure you'd do the same if I got sick too!" blushed Ayane. 

"Yo, Sara, Ayane!" greeted Kanji stepping into the buzzing classroom of class 1-1 to stand next to Sara, immediately wrapping his arm around her small frame. 

"Mornin' Kanji!" chirped Sara, leaning into his warmth.

Ayane upon seeing their actions, stuttered out, "O-oh, Kanji-kun… A-are you and Sara-chan…?"

"Hmmm?" Sara hummed confused.

"U-uh" floundered Kanji, without moving his arm from Sara, "I-I'm just bein' protective is all! D-don't want Sara 'ter get sick again… haha!" 

"Ummm… okay" replied Ayane, not at all convinced by Kanji's white lie. 

Lucky for Kanji, the conversation was cut short by the ringing of the school bell, and the teacher quickly entering and asking for students to take their seats. 

\-----

##### Afterschool

Both Sara and Kanji were quickly ushered to the rooftop of Yasogami High - their time to get some answers was well overdue. Once on seated or standing, there was an awkward silence that fell over the group.

"H-Hi there!" squeaked Kanji, suddenly flustered for no good reason, only to get laughed at by Chie. 

"Ha, where'd the manners come from?" Chie snarked.

Kanji rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, "Well, um...I didn't know you guys were my senpai…. Uhh...Thanks a bunch." He sighed, "Though I don't really remember what happened…" 

"Neither do I…" continued Sara, with a sad look on her face. 

The two second-year girls started by asking Kanji and Sara about the boy they had met up with just days before Kanji's abduction. But that line of questioning fell dead fast when Kanji said that they just talked, but then got flustered when he started recalling some of the lead up to the meeting. 

"Uh… Well… He just asked if anything if anything different had happened lately… I dunno where my head was at, but I was already all confused from when he asked me to meet him" Kanji recalled. 

"Oh yeah I remember that… In the morning you made me come in early so we could talk in private, right Kanji?" nudged Sara, looking inquisitively up at her best friend. 

"R-right!" blushed Kanji, seeing her big blue-grey eyes looking up at him. "We uh.. Were talkin' about… H-how I started thinking...What if I'm the type who never gets interested in girls...? And I couldn't accept that-" 

"Why not?" Yosuke cheekily interjected, gesturing his eyes at Sara. 

"H-hey cut it out!" protested Kanji, "But uh… so I kept spinning around and around in my head..."

"And… how're you feeling now?" asked Yū cautiously. 

"I'm fine now. I mean, it was all in my head, when y'get down to it." responded Kanji honestly. "Up until Sara and I had that chat before school… I was all a mess… so, uh thanks" Kanji smiled down at Sara, softly nudging her hand with his. 

Kanji continued on to tell the others about how growing up in his family's textile shop made people think he was weird and therefore make fun of him. After giving the second-years a spiel of his life story, Kanji sighed exasperatedly, "Shit, what's with me today? I'm going on and on about myself...Forget all that. Man, I must look really lame right now." He smiled sheepishly, picking at a scab on his elbow. 

"Nooo, Kanji you're pretty cool!" objected Sara. The rest of the group nodding in agreement. 

"Nah, I doubt it…" hummed the blonde, shaking his head, "I've never talked about any of this stuff outside of Sara before... Guess I never had anyone else to tell it to." He paused, "I guess after all that time I wasn't really afraid of girls. I was just scared of people in general. But all that's behind me." 

Sara smiled up at Kanji gently taking his hand in hers and giving a light squeeze, but not letting go just yet. 

"Wow, I'm surprised. You're a good kid…" admitted Chie. 

Kanji blushed at the compliment, objecting to being called 'a good kid'. The group burst out in laughter enjoying the brief interlude before the conversation became serious again. 

Youske brought the conversation back to a serious tone, "Hey, is there anything you remember after you ran into us the second time?" he asked, " You know, after you chased us away and said you were gonna take us down."

"Huh? Uhh...I went home. I was gonna sleep it off in my room...Wait, I think someone came…" responded Kanji, straining to remember what happened. 

"Wait, Kanji didn't you call me that night? Remember… our nightly routine?" nudged Sara. 

"O-oh yeah…" said the blonde sheepishly, remembering some of the good bits of the conversation, especially when Sara had mentioned that he was cute. 

"I don't remember exactly what happened, but you had to end our phone call early didn't you?" 

"Mmm… I think so…" he paused, thinking, "Other than that...I remember some weird, dark entrance thing...When I woke up, I was laid out on the floor of that sauna place."

His words stuck out to the team, with their larger understanding of the Midnight Channel and the cases thus far. 

"Did the police ask you anything?" Yosuke asked, continuing the conversation. 

"Well, my mom had called the cops to look for me, so they questioned me for a while. I told them exactly what I just told you and they looked at me like I was crazy. So, like...Are you guys playing detective or somethin'?" asked Kanji lazily. 

"Mmm, well, something like that." hummed Chie. 

Kanji immediately looked interested and perked up, "Anything I can do to help?" he asked earnestly. "If there's some bastard out there who put me and Sara through this, I ain't gonna rest until I make 'em pay!" growled Kanji. 

"Yeah!" cheered Sara, "You better count me in too! I would've been lost down there if not for all of you coming back to find me and then covering for me when I was missing over there!"

Yū looked conflicted at Sara's words. Chie and Yukiko rolled their eyes at the silver-ette's overprotective brotherly instincts. 

"Oh c'mon, Yū-kun!" encouraged Yukiko, "It can't be that bad letting your sister onto the team, right?"

"Yeah, Yū~" sassed Sara before reminding her brother, "We already talked about this, no more leaving me behind, no more secrets and I keep you in the loop too!"

"I'm sure the both of you wou;d make great additions to our team!" exclaimed Yosuke, cheerfully turning to Yū to ask "Whaddaya say, Leader?"

Yū sighed, and nodded, "Of course they can."

Sara cheered, jumping excitedly into Kanji's arms and latching on like a koala. "We won't let you down!" was her outburst. 

"I'll do my best!" affirmed Kanji, carefully juggling Sara's wiggly body with his lanky arms. 

The team smiled at the enthusiastic first-years, inviting them to go visit their 'special headquarters' in the Junes Food Court. 

\-----

##### Junes Food Court

Once at the Food Court, Kanji had jumped at the chance to get a hot meal, stuffing his face while the second-years tried to explain the situation thus far. Sara sat to his left and picked at his side plate of hot chips. 

"So, uh...Wait, so someone's killing people with a TV...? What, is he beating them to death?" Kanji recapped what he had been told. 

Yosuke looked like he was about to rip out his own hair, "No, they weren't being beaten with a TV! Were you listening at all...?" he asked exasperatedly.

Chie sighed, mentioning that it would probably all make sense once they were able to go back to the Midnght Channel without the added stress of having to find Sara on his mind. "But the way it happened was just the same as with Yukiko. The killer kidnapped him first, then threw him into the TV." Chie recalled, joining the dots together. 

The black haired girl shivered, thinking back on the terrifying experience. 

The conversation took a turn when the group could overhear some other high-school students talking about what they saw on the Midnight Channel, upsetting Kanji when they called him 'that first-year who used to be in a biker gang…'. 

Turning around in his seat, the angry blonde growled at the gossiping students yelling at them that he wasn't in a biker gang but the one who beat the shit out of those 'leathered-up pansies'. Needless to say, those students wet their pants and skedaddled outta there. 

"Feh… Boring" scoffed Kanji, reclaiming his seat and food. There was a moment of awkward silence, Chie being the one to break it. 

"Sure, they have no idea it's related to the murders, but still...How can they talk about their schoolmate like that?" empathised Chie. 

Yosuke agreed, comparing the students to onlookers at a car crash - people are dying to see something as long as it's not happening to them. The brunette sighed, " Damn, this sucks...We don't even know who's gonna be targeted anymore." 

Yukiko brought up the fact that with Kanji, their initial theory about all the victims being female, was now disproven. But even their other theory that all the victims were linked to Ms. Yamano didn't hold up. 

Surprisingly it was Kanji who provided a hint at the possible link between the victims, albeit, through a note he stole off a snooping student. The list of dates were of immediate interest. 

"Mayumi Yamano 4/11, Saki Konishi 4/13…" Yū read out. Yosuke and Chie quickly linking the dates written down as the days before the named victims turned up dead. 

It was Yū who realised that the noted date was the day that the victim turned up on the TV, April 13th being the day that Saki was interviewed, and April 11th the day that the affair had been announced and discussed on TV. The team was quick to turn to Yukiko, trying to see if they could get the 'three' that made it a definite pattern. 

"Yukiko, didn't you get interviewed too? When did that interview air!?" asked Yosuke desperately. 

"I-I think it was when I was absent from school...Um…" Yukiko tried to recall, "It was the day after I met you at the embankment. I had my kimono on...Do you remember?" she asked, turning to Yū. Who was able to remember it was the 15th of April. 

"And right after that, I was kidnapped!" stated Yukiko angrily. 

Yosuke then turned to the blonde of the group, "Kanji! What about that television special you were on!?"

"Oh yeah, that thing...Damn show made my mom go apeshit on me and…" he started. 

"The date! Just tell us the date!" yelled Yosuke. 

Kanji was a little stunned at his senpai's outburst. "Uhhh, I don't remember the exact date...But it wasn't too long before I met you guys." he responded. 

Yosuke sighed sadly, realising that the pattern was indeed true - the victims showed up on normal TV before being kidnapped. Chie wondered aloud if the killer was targeting the people he saw on TV. 

"Wouldn't that mean that potentially the killer was either someone new to town, or from out of town?" questioned Sara. The rest of the group silent, but unable to confirm or deny anything for the time being. 

The second-years agonised over the case, frustrated that they were unable to come to any definite conclusions. 

"Dude, why beat yourself up? I think you guys are awesome. I mean, you guys noticed what was happening to me and even risked your lives to stop it. That's more than enough." stated Kanji, in a very manner-of-fact tone. 

"Mmmm, I agree!" hummed Sara, "If I hadn't stumbled into all of this I would've still been totally oblivious to all of it! Plus you all came to rescue Kanji and I… even if you haven't cracked the case just yet, both Kanji and I would be trapped or dead…"

Yukiko added to the positive vibes, adding that she had also been saved and that they already had a good lead with the dates from the note that Kanji stole. With the extra encouragement, the group was much more hopeful about future cases, as now knowing a pattern gave them a sight advantage. 

The conversation was then changed by Chie who brought up the fact that the school camp-out was coming up, and both first and second years were to be in attendance. 

Kanji quickly got bored of the conversation when he realised he (and Sara) had finished the feast he had ordered. But before he could go get more, the second-years had dragged their newest members away to visit Teddie in the Midnight Channel. 

\-----

##### TV Studio, Midnight Channel

Upon entering the foggy TV studio that was the entrance of the Midnight Channel, Kanji commented that he vaguely remembered this place, Sara slowly nodding in agreement, her gaze transfixed on the fuzzy blue bear that stood in front of her. 

"Hey, why IS it a bear?" questioned Kanji, now also staring at the cartoonish bear. Yosuke just shrugging his shoulders replying, "Dunno".

"C-can if I pet you?" blurted out Sara, with a blush adorning her face. 

"Okay!" cheered the bear, moving quick to let the short girl weave her hands through the short fuzzy blue strands of his fur. 

"Oooh! You're so soft!" exclaimed Sara. 

Kanji inched closer to try and feel too, but the bear jumped away, "Not so fast, mister!" he shouted, pulling off some comical looking kung-fu moves to ward off the stranger. "No touching allowed!"

"W-what! But you let Sara -" objected Kanji. 

"Nope!" interjected the bear, holding his head up high. 

Kanji then asked what was on his mind, about what happened with Yukiko when her shadow made an appearance. " What was it like for Senpai--" he began to innocently ask before getting promptly smacked in the face, to which he grunted in pain. 

"Kanji!" gasped Sara, quickly cradling his red cheek in her small, cool hands. 

Yukiko also gasped realising what she had reflexively done. "Oh, sorry...I didn't mean to hit you so hard…"

" M-My jaw…" whimpered Kanji.

"Naww… Kanji…" lamented Sara before cheekily saying "Will a kiss make it better?" 

"A-a k-kiss?!" flushed the tall blonde, his hormonal teenage mind running wild at the thought. 

The others in the team just stared and sighed at the antics of the other half of their group. 

"Oh yeah! Here's a present from me, Kanji and for you Sara-chan! It's to celebrate you joining the team!" cheered Teddie energetically. 

"But… I already have a pair..?" questioned Kanji, still going ahead to take the glasses handed to him, not realising they were Yukiko's favourite, the joke glasses. Him putting on the glasses resulted in Yukiko bursting out in a laughing fit, Sara giggling right alongside her. Kanji, seeing his favourite person having fun, managed to crack a smile too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's SO MUCH dialogue during the large plot scenes, so I got lazy and summed up some bits here and there.   
> But… lots of plot progression, I've been very tired these past few weeks so not a lot of original content here, sorry.


End file.
